Ecuador President Backtracks and Signs Trade Accord With EU
Ecuador reached a trade accord with the European Union today, five years after President Rafael Correa backed out of the talks alleging an agreement would damage local industry.
“We’ve finally closed a balanced accord with the EU that maximizes opportunities, reduces costs to a minimum, respects the development model of the country and allows us to protect our sensitive industries,” Foreign Trade Minister Francisco Rivadeneira said in a statement on the ministry’s website.
The government reopened talks this year to avoid losing its preferential access to European markets under a separate trade program that expires in December. Ecuador, the world’s largest banana exporter, had pulled out of talks between the EU and the Latin American nations of Peru and Colombia in 2009, with President Correa, a self-described socialist revolutionary, warning that free-trade agreements could destroy the country’s economy.
The EU made “limited adjustments” to the free trade agreement signed by Colombia and Peru that didn’t result in “any significant change,” according to a statement published today by the European Commission.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-17/ecuador-s-president-backtracks-and-signs-trade-accord-with-eu.html
