- July 14, 2021
- Posted by: medium
- Category: Uncategorized
The event takes place virtually from this Tuesday, July 13 to July 15, in which Ecuador seeks to export more products and attract investments
Virtually, Guayaquil is the headquarters, from July 13 to July 15, of theBusiness Future of the Americas 2021 (BFA 2021),a business event focused on promoting and attracting new investments to the region, organized by theEcuadorian American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham Guayaquil)and theAssociation of American Chambers of Commerce of Latin America and the Caribbean (AACCLA).
Carla Rossignoli, executive director of Amcham Guayaquil, recalled that the event was scheduled to take place in person in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was suspended. The event brings together the 23 American chambers of the continent that brings together23,000 companies.
Nery Merejildo, vice president of Amcham Guayaquil and AACCLA, highlighted that traditionally the BFA was established as a space for the exchange of policies and commercial trends and that despite the impact of the pandemic, it is not leaving that essence and is once again becoming a business meeting space for the region.
“The lessons derived from the pandemic mark a challenge to promote economic reactivation… we are a region of contrasts where wealth and biodiversity coexist,” said Merejildo, who pointed out that the forms must be constituted as companies with purposes, promote the circular economy and systemic change.
The inauguration of the business event included the intervention of the president Guillermo Lasso, virtually from the Carondelet Palace.
The president highlighted the importance of the United States as Ecuador's main trading partner.
“It is a priority issue to fully insert Ecuador into international markets. In that sense, we will continue taking necessary steps to move towards a Free Trade Agreement with the United States,” said Lasso, who regretted that Ecuador is the only country in the Pacific basin that has not done so.
He announced that the negotiations would include, in addition to trade issues, issues related to labor law, intellectual property, gender equality, environmental sustainability, issues that are already on his government agenda, Lasso indicated.
The president added that the objective is to place more Ecuadorian products in the United States and, of course, attract American investments to Ecuador, "because that translates into more jobs for millions of people in both countries and avoids disorderly migration."
Regarding the bilateral relationship between Ecuador and the United States,Debra Hevia, Minister Counselor of the United States Embassy,highlighted that in 2020 the commercial exchange between both nations was more than$10 billion.
He specified that the 30 % of Ecuador's exports go to the United States and the 25 % of Ecuador's total imports come from its country.
In addition, he confirmed the commitment of the United States to promote the economic reactivation of the country and highlighted the donation of 2 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to Ecuador; and the agreements signed with the national bank to mobilize more than $300 million in new credits for small and medium-sized businesses, especially those led by women.
The point of economic reactivation through vaccination against COVID-19 was also addressed by President Lasso, who revealed that in the last week a record was broken when immunizing about1'166,000 Ecuadorians, which compared to the200.000that they were vaccinated in the first week of their government “implies significant growth.”
Lasso assured that22,000 companiesclosed in Ecuador and there were losses of around$14.5 billion, almost 15 points of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) due to the pandemic in 2020.
“In a few months the fight against the pandemic will end, but we will all begin a longer and more difficult fight, I am referring to economic reactivation, the recovery of jobs and the reopening of companies,” said the president, who indicated that, according to Experts, recovery would take three to four years.
Although he indicated that they have already activated plans to accelerate the reactivation, among them the tariff benefits that they announced last week that represent a return of about$190 millionfrom the State to the pockets of citizens and to the coffers of companies.
Furthermore, he took the opportunity to announce the subscription of theDecree 95to define in the next 100 days the actions to modernize the hydrocarbon sector of Ecuador.
He announced that among the actions is the increase in oil production, the transfer of some service stations to the private sector, the increase in efficiency in the administration of refineries and making contracting processes in the hydrocarbon sector transparent.
“We are sure that by energizing this sector with large foreign investments we will generate jobs,” said Lasso.
For its part, Richard Martínez, Vice President of Countries of the IDB Group, one of the strategic partners for the development of BFA 2021, spoke about the strategic plan 'Vision 2025, Reinvest in the Americas', focused on attracting investments to the region and business development in post-pandemic Latin America.
Martínez assured that 7 out of 10 companies in the United States, with factories in Asia, are considering moving their operations to other countries, which according to the former Minister of Economy of Ecuador, opens a great opportunity for companies in the region to diversify and supply markets throughout the continent, including the United States.
In addition, he highlighted the advances in digitalization and the importance of electronic commerce in the region and assured that thee-commercein Latin America was one of the ones that grew the most globally in 2020 during the pandemic, which indicated that companies in the region could be the most benefited by the expansion of the digital transformation market that is expected to grow in 24 % annual until 2028.
“Our vision of how to help the private sector is multisectoral… we are allies to finance new projects and reinvent businesses,” Martínez said.