Source: Frontier Securities               Date: August 24, 2011

Corruption divides Mongolia and the United States from serious partnership agreements and investment, reported Frontier Securities. The report comes from the analysis of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's recent visit to Mongolia.

During his stay, Biden recognized the achievements of Mongolia as a democracy. He also expressed his interest in establishing a Free Trade Agreement along with a Transparency Agreement to attract foreign investors.

The United States sees many risks doing business with Mongolia, despite attractive investment opportunities in Mongolia, such as Tavan Tolgoi and Oyu Tolgoi, reported Frontier Securities. Mongolia was ranked 116 on the 2010 Corruption Perception Index and the United States still finds problems with issues such as political and corporate governance in Mongolia.

The report identified a U.S.-Mongolia Free Trade Agreement and Transparency Agreement as a crucial factor to furthering relations between the two nations. This would apparently increase transparency, and reduce corruption within government and businesses.