Ecuador-EU to negotiate trade agreement
Prensa Latina | 6 Jan 2014
Ecuador-EU to negotiate trade agreement
Quito, Jan 6 (Prensa Latina) — Ecuador and the European Union (EU) will hold the first round of negotiations of the Trade Multipart Agreement from January 13 to 17 next in Brussels, announced an official source.
As reported by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Trade in a statement, in this first meeting, the parties will address the market access of agricultural and industrial products, trade in services and facilities, and geographical indications.
The text adds that the negotiation process, stopped since 2009 due to the withdrawal of Ecuador from the talks, was reactivated on instructions by President Rafael Correa, who has warned, however, that the eventual agreement will only be signed if it is beneficial to the Andean country.
Correa explained that what is being negotiated with the European bloc is a trade agreement, not a free trade agreement, and that the government will never pass the red lines it settled, because a bad negotiation, he warned, could bankrupt the country.
If all goes well in the negotiations that begin next week, the agreement could be sealed in the first quarter of this year, as announced by the Head of the Ecuadorian State.
