One ​​of the points to decide is whether shrimp enters the free trade agreement

Authorities in the face-to-face round of negotiations of the Trade Agreement between Ecuador and Mexico

Ecuador wants to join the Pacific Alliance, the economic and trade integration initiative made up of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. To finalize its incorporation, the Andean country must sign a trade agreement with Mexico. The negotiating rounds are in the final stage and Ecuador hopes to reach the final agreements at the Summit of the Americas, to be held next week in the United States.

According to the Ecuadorian authorities, there will be bilateral meetings with Mexico at the summit to close the negotiations. The ninth Summit of the Americas will be attended by Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Holguín, and Production Minister Julio José Prado.

According to the minister < b>Meadow, there is no date for the closing of the agreement, this is because they prefer that the negotiations favor both nations: “We do not set a tentative date. What we want is that the negotiation with Mexico, like all negotiations, be carried out well and that, above all, our star export products have access to the Mexican markets within the agreed deadlines.” The Minister of Production announced that during the Summit of the Americas he will meet with the Minister of Economy of Mexico, Tatiana Clouthier, “to reach the final agreements that we need to be able to close that trade agreement” .

Pre-agreements have already been reached in the negotiation rounds with some sensitive products, one of them being shrimp.

According to the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission and the National Chamber of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Industries of Mexico, shrimp was left out of the agreement to preserve the interests of more than 430,000 Mexicans who benefit from this activity. But this was denied by the Ecuadorian authorities.

Ecuadorian shrimp (Photo: EFE/EPA/NARONG SANGNAK/File).

Since April 2022, the Mexican aquaculture sector requested that this product be left out of the trade agreement. However, the Ecuadorian authorities assured that they had not been notified about the matter. For its part, the National Chamber of Aquaculture of Ecuador said last Thursday that “in a negotiation nothing is said until it is closed, and the process remains open.”

In a statement issued on May 31, the Ministry of Production assured that neither shrimp nor bananas have been excluded from the negotiations with Mexico. The Ministry of Production recalled that this entity, as well as the Ministry of Economy of Mexico, are the only institutions that can officially pronounce on the agreements reached in commercial matters.

The National Chamber of Aquaculture of Ecuador asked the government of Guillermo Lasso to include shrimp in the agreement with Mexico “because it is inadmissible to leave them out.” In case that emblematic product of Ecuador is left out, The Chamber said that “the advisability of a trade agreement with Mexico that excludes Ecuador’s main exportable supply should be evaluated, taking into account the imbalance in the trade balance between the two countries that exists to date.”

José Antonio Camposano, president of this chamber, told El Universo that “a free trade agreement that does not achieve access for Ecuador’s exportable supply, in this case its main product, which is shrimp, loses much of its relevance for the country. In a small, dollarized economy like ours, export growth must be encouraged and one of the mechanisms to do so is the negotiation of trade agreements, but if these fail to open markets for our products, then they cease to be attractive for our goals of generating more sales, more investment and more employment.”

Guillermo Lasso’s administration seeks to sign at least ten trade agreements by 2025. Among the countries sought maintain treaties are Mexico, South Korea, China, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Canada and the United States.

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