Ecuador announces the imminent signing of a trade agreement with China

According to the Ecuadorian Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment, and Fisheries, Julio José Prado, Ecuador will sign a trade agreement with China in the coming weeks, tentatively in May.

“The next trade agreement that will be ratified, validated, and signed shortly will be the trade agreement with China,” he said on local radio station Radio Democracia.

The Ecuador-China Free Trade Agreement was negotiated over ten months through four rounds of negotiations and several technical meetings.

This trade agreement will provide preferential access for 99% of Ecuador’s exports to China, including agricultural and agro-industrial products such as shrimp, bananas, roses and flowers, cocoa, coffee, pitahaya, pineapple, mango, blueberries, quinoa, processed foods, fresh and canned fruits, among others.

The minister said that China is Ecuador’s largest non-oil trade partner, with annual exports to that country of around US$5.7 billion.

According to official figures, bilateral trade between Ecuador and China exceeds US$10 billion.

Minister Prado also informed that in recent days the Government has successfully concluded negotiations of trade agreements with Costa Rica and South Korea, which will enter into force at the end of 2023 and 2024, respectively.

Ecuador is currently advancing in negotiations of free trade agreements with Canada, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and the US.

With information from Sputnik