Ecuador’s president wants one million oil barrels daily and a dozen trade agreements

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – As part of his agenda during the IX Summit of the Americas, the president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, attended an event where he stated his administration’s objective regarding oil production.

According to Lasso, he expects Ecuador to double its oil production to one million barrels per day in the medium term.

It is not the first time that the president has referred to this goal; however, there is concern from organizations and indigenous communities about the government’s extractive policy that would affect megadiverse regions such as the Amazon.

During the IV CEO Summit of the Americas, Lasso said, “the objective of my government is to initiate a process that, in the medium term, will allow us to double oil production, 500,000 more. This process requires more or less US$12 billion in investment”.

During the meeting, the president took the opportunity to promote Ecuador’s investment portfolio and invited those interested to visit the Ecuador Open for Business website.

There are projects in the energy, mining, and agricultural sectors on the platform: “Each project is there, what it demands and what it can eventually produce,” said Lasso.

As part of the meeting, Lasso also participated in a round table with U.S. entrepreneurs and CEOs, including executives from Amazon, General Motors, and Airbnb.

In a statement issued by the Ecuadorian-American Chamber of Commerce of Guayaquil, President Lasso conveyed Ecuadorian businessmen’s desire to strengthen the relationship between the two countries “through trade with healthy, solid, and resilient economies that include digital transformation through energy security and sustainability.”

Lasso also noted that he expects, by 2025, when his term ends, to sign at least a dozen trade agreements with various countries around the world.

The president regretted that his predecessors, for ideological reasons, had missed the opportunity to sign treaties with countries such as the United States.

According to Lasso, “the purpose of Ecuador in my government is to try to reach 80% of the global market”.

In his speech, the president mentioned that the government is close to signing a free trade agreement with Mexico, which will allow Ecuador to join the Pacific Alliance as a full member.

Government authorities hope to close negotiations with the Mexicans during the Summit of the Americas, even though sensitive products could delay the agreement, such as shrimp, bananas, and tuna.

Lasso said that Ecuador had the opportunity to join the Pacific Alliance, to which Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru belong, but did not do so: “For us, it is very important to recover time lost for ideological reasons,” he said.

The Ecuadorian president said the same about the joint free trade agreement that the country was able to sign with the United States when Peru and Colombia did so, according to EFE: “We are raising the need not to leave a small country, which unfortunately the government in power at the time caused us that damage,” he said.

Lasso said that despite the obstacles in trade matters of his left-wing predecessors, Ecuador is negotiating with the United States some “trade protocols”.

In 2022, Lasso’s administration expects to sign a trade agreement with China, whose negotiations have already begun.

At the meeting, Lasso also described that one of the main issues to be addressed in his agenda in the United States is security to give a forceful response to drug trafficking and organized crime.

According to a presidential communiqué, the government has seized more than 300 tons of drugs, which “demonstrates the determination not to be permissive but to confront them directly”.

To continue with this fight, the Ecuadorian president assured, international cooperation is indispensable: “We need the support of the United States and Europe. The benefit of this fight will be reflected in society,” he said.

With information from Infobae