ULAN BATOR, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia and Vietnam have signed an agreement on the transfer of sentenced persons, the Mongolian Foreign Affairs Ministry said Thursday.

A Mongolian delegation led by Minister of Justice and Home Affairs Tsend Nyamdorj visited Vietnam on Oct. 15-17, during which Nyamdorj and Vietnamese Minister of Public Security To Lam signed the agreement, the ministry said in a statement.

"Currently, there are no Mongolian citizens imprisoned in Vietnam. But the number of Mongolian visitors in Vietnam has been growing in recent years," the ministry said, stressing that this kind of agreement is important to protecting the rights of Mongolian citizens abroad.

According to data released by the ministry, a total of 174 Mongolian citizens are serving their prison sentences overseas.

Among the 19 foreign nationals serving sentences in Mongolia, two are Vietnamese.?