Ecuador and Costa Rica start negotiations on free trade agreement

Representatives of the governments of Ecuador and Costa Rica have begun rounds of negotiations for the signing of a free trade agreement between the two countries. The first session, held virtually, focused on advancing agreements on regulatory issues.

The talks are part of a commitment made by Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso and his Costa Rican counterpart Rodrigo Chaves last June at a bilateral meeting held as part of the “Summit of the Americas” (Cumbre de las Américas).

Both heads of state expressed interest in negotiating a trade agreement later this year. The Ecuadorian Ministry of Production informed in a communiqué that this instrument is a modern agreement in which eighteen agreements will be negotiated. The first round will last until August 19.

The agreements, which are being analyzed with a view to signing, cover issues of market access for goods, rules of origin, and customs procedures. Mechanisms for trade facilitation, elimination of technical trade barriers, and regulatory coherence will also be evaluated.

The rounds of negotiations between the two countries will address sanitary and phytosanitary measures, trade defense measures, competition policy, trade in services, e-commerce, temporary entry of business people, intellectual property, government procurement, trade and gender inclusion, trade and labor issues, trade and the environment, and trade capacity building for small and medium enterprises.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Production indicated that in 2017 the country conducted a feasibility study to assess the benefits and opportunities of a trade agreement between Ecuador and Costa Rica. Following the study, the Foreign Trade Committee authorized the start of negotiations between the parties in 2019 and agreed on the general negotiating framework that places Costa Rica as a priority in Ecuador’s trade agenda.

Work to modernize the general negotiating framework and strengthen bilateral relations took place between 2021 and 2022 during meetings of the agreement’s chief negotiators and coordinators, according to the Ministry of Production.

The government of President Guillermo Lasso aims to sign at least 12 trade agreements with different countries worldwide by the end of his term in 2025.

According to Prado, in addition to the start of negotiations with Costa Rica, the first virtual phase of negotiations with China has already been completed, and in the case of the agreement with Mexico, 99% of the deals have been finalized. The trade agreement with Mexico is a prerequisite for Ecuador to join the Pacific Alliance.

Trade relations between Ecuador and Costa Rica are positive. In 2021, Costa Rica was the 15th destination for Ecuadorian non-oil exports to Latin America and the Caribbean. In the same year, Costa Rica was the 12th destination for agricultural and fishery exports, according to Ecuador’s Ministry of Production.

The most exported products from Ecuador to Costa Rica were canned fish, metal, fish, bananas, chemical and pharmaceutical products, livestock products, paper, and cardboard products, vehicles and vehicle parts, textile fiber products, and tuna.

On the other hand, medicines, metal scraps and scrap, tires, insecticides, disinfectants, and similar products, switches, other fasteners and their parts, fresh plants, medical instruments and apparatus, food preparations, metal articles, orthopedic articles and devices, and belts and bandages were exported from Costa Rica to Ecuador.

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