Context: At the first forum of regions, held in Irkutsk in December 2025, Russia and Mongolia signed a cooperation development program for 2026-2030. The document provided for more than 120 joint events between the regions and aimags. The second forum was a test of this framework in practice: the business program was built around the same priorities — transport corridors, trade in the EAEU format, cross—border and industrial cooperation, tourism - and substantive negotiations of regional delegations and the signing of specific documents were added to the plenary part.
It is significant that the opening session of the forum was devoted specifically to transport connectivity: presentations were made by the Minister of Roads and Transport of Mongolia, Dalgara Khan, the head of the Administration of Mongolian Border Posts, E. Gantulga, and the head of the border Republic of Buryatia, Alexey Tsydenov. On the sidelines of the forum, Alexey Overchuk held meetings with the leadership of Mongolia, where the parties discussed the implementation of agreements reached at the talks between the President of Russia and the leadership of Mongolia in Bishkek (at the SCO summit) and in Vladivostok — that is, the forum serves as a working platform for translating summit agreements into specific regional projects.
The most obvious example of such a transfer is the work of the delegation of the Irkutsk region. One region brought to the forum a portfolio of contracts worth more than 680 million rubles, from cargo transportation and supplies of building materials to dealer agreements and supplies of polymer plastics, as well as an interregional agreement with the Khubsugul aimag covering trade, agriculture, healthcare, education, culture and tourism. Separately, the parties agreed to synchronize the calendar of events for the "Great Tea Way" project at three venues at once — in Russia, Mongolia and China, expanding the format of cooperation beyond the bilateral agenda.
For businesses operating in the Mongolian sector, the forum's message is simple: interregional forums of this type are increasingly acting not as a showcase, but as a working tool for concluding deals — with specific amounts, signatories and deadlines, embedded in the broader architecture of the EAEU agreements and summit outcomes. How stable this trend will be will become clear from how many of the announced amounts and relevant agreements will be implemented by the next meeting of the parties.
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