This year officially marked the beginning of negotiations between Ecuador and China with a view to signing an FTA. Ecuador would be part of a small group of countries in the region (Peru, Chile, and Costa Rica) that have signed FTAs with China. This has come following 1 109% increase in exports from Ecuador to China between January and May of this year. The most recent meeting between the two countries took place on July 25 and 27, and have involved different roundtables which have worked on issues including Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, Economic Cooperation, Technical Barriers to Trade and Trade Defense, and Electronic Commerce and Dispute Settlement. Ecuador hopes to sign a comprehensive FTA, which, besides commercial benefits, can also provide other types of advantages, such as investment and technology transfer.
Guillermo Lasso’s meetings in China in February of this year initiated the negotiations to lead up to a bilateral agreement. However, Lasso’s interest in China went beyond the FTA, to include the renegotiation of Ecuador’s debt to the Asian country. The reasons behind the debt include mainly payment to Chinese enterprises for infrastructure works and anticipated oil sales. The debt is estimated at around USD$ 5.000 million. The repayment of a portion of the debt was secured in oil during the previous term of office, so one of the current president’s goals was to decouple these oil sale guarantees from debt repayment.
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El Telégrafo (Ecuador): Ecuador y China inician la primera ronda de conversaciones para la firma de un TLC.
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El Universo (Ecuador): Ecuador y China arrancaron la primera ronda de negociaciones para un TLC. Segunda y tercera ronda se prevé para agosto y septiembre.
El Comercio (Ecuador): Lasso: Renegociación de deuda con China traerá beneficios.
Diálogo Chino: El TLC propuesto por Ecuador con China genera oportunidades y preocupaciones.