Ecuador and the EU looking forward to a Trade Agreement – again

Ecuador and the EU return to a dialogue. Ecuador left 11 months ago the discussions that had begun the EU with four Andean countries (Andean block) regarding a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) - Peru and Colombia recently signed a FTA with the EU.

The delegates from the European Union and Ecuador are holding three days meeting with the aim of establish an agreement to develop trade between the two. The first meeting was held yesterday (14/06) where a general review of texts was looked at so as to identify the difficulties in initiating negotiations. It was determined that there are indeed three sensitive issues and so they should have a deeper analysis. They are: intellectual property, government procurement and services.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Galo Borja, said that the meeting was "satisfactory because it was an open dialogue". He mentioned that there is not yet a negotiation team but if the meetings are successful, the negotiations will begin in Geneva.

In this line, Ecuador's chief negotiator, Ambassador Mentor Villagomez, explains that the meetings of these three days are not negotiations but joint assessments to see the real possibilities of negotiation.

The result would be known tomorrow, Wednesday 16.