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Ministers of Production and Agriculture met with ambassadors from the United States and the European Union

  • July 12, 2022
  • Posted by: medium
  • Category: National
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The US and the EU are two of Ecuador's main commercial partners. To these two triggers the country has exported $ 2,566 million from January to April 2022.

The ministers of production, foreign trade, investments and fishing; and agriculture and livestock, Julio José Prado and Bernardo Manzano, respectively, met last Thursday with the representatives of two of their most important commercial partners, ambassadors Michael J. Fitzpatrick, of the United States and Charles-Michel Geurts, of the European Union (EU), in Quito.

According to figures from the Central Bank of Ecuador, the United States is the second commercial destination, behind China. From January to April, it registered an increase of 18 % over the same period of 2021 with $ 1,329 million in exports; followed closely by the European Union with $ 1,237 million, which meant a 17 % increase in the first four -month period of 2022 compared to 2021.

These destinations added 65 % of non -mining non -mining exports in Ecuador in this period, according to the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor).

The main products that reach these markets are headed by shrimp with $ 864 million, bananas ($ 513 million), fishing ($ 318 million), flowers ($ 216 million) and cocoa ($ 131 million).

Meanwhile, both ministries reported that during the meeting between their headlines and the US ambassadors and the EU actions were analyzed for the strengthening of commercial relations and processes to facilitate trade, without giving details of the specific topics discussed.

With EU Ecuador has had a commercial agreement for five years that entered into force since 2017; while with the United States a first phase agreement was signed in December 2020 and was ratified by the National Assembly in May 2021. The country seeks to initiate the process for the subscription of a broader agreement that includes sensitive issues such as access to markets or agricultural products, which are not part of the first phase.

Meanwhile, Charles-Michel Geurts commented that there was a commitment from Ecuador with the US and the EU to take further take the sustainable commercial ties and ‘win-win’ so important for the recovery of their economies.