After six years, Ecuador and South Korea returned to the negotiating table to sign a trade agreement

Of the 30 main products exported to Korea, 25 pay tariffs, so agreement would allow the entry of Ecuadorian products with advantages.

The process for the signing of a strategic Economic Cooperation Agreement (dry) between Ecuador and South Korea continues its course, after last Monday, in Seoul, the sixth negotiation round began, which is carried out hybridly with face -to -face and virtual sessions.

The purpose of the government, in this case, is that this commercial instrument will allow to open the doors of a 50 million inhabitants market with high purchasing power, with a GDP per capita (dollars at current international prices) of $ 32,143, and the Asia-Pacific area.

The negotiation with Korea began in 2015 and was resumed in March 2022, after a meeting between the Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries, Julio José Prado, with his South Korean counterpart, Han-Koo Yeo, who was the head negotiating of the agreement in 2016.

After the meeting the technical teams of both countries agreed the terms for the relaunch of the sixth round of negotiations between the two nations, which took place on Monday.

This agreement includes a total of 16 issues, such as access to markets, technical obstacles to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, commercial defense, rules of origin, cross -border trade of services, institutional provisions, solution of differences and investments.

Thus, new generation matters such as labor and environmental issues, competition, telecommunications, intellectual property, cooperation, electronic commerce and trade trade are included.

Regarding the commercial bilateral relationship, in 2021, Korea was the number 18 of non -oil Ecuadorian exports to the world, with a value of $ 124.7 million. It also occupied position 20 with respect to agricultural and fishing exports, with a value of $ 96.5 million.

Ecuador's main export non -oil products to South Korea were shrimp, metal waste, bananas, fish, other metal manufactures, other chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and cocoa.

In the same year, the main non -oil products from South Korea to Ecuador are: light cars, polymers, other manufactures of metals, vaccines, immunological products and plasma, bumper, safety belts and similar for vehicles, front bumps, mechanical blades, excavators and their similar, and motors and their parts.

Of the 30 main products exported by Ecuador to Korea, 25 pay tariffs, so signing a commercial agreement between the two countries will allow the entry of the Ecuadorian exportable offer with competitive advantages and, consequently, increase the export potential of traditional and non -traditional Ecuadorian products to the South Korean market, taking advantage of the complementarity of economies.

Meanwhile, between 2017 and 2021, Ecuador exported to the South Korean market $ 531.9 million in non -oil products.