After announcing a shutdown with China in December 2022 and signing a trade deal with Costa Rica last March, South Korea now joins the list of goals achieved in a portfolio of manufacturing, foreign trade, investment and fisheries.

So this Friday, Minister Julio José Prado announced to the President of the Republic the technical closure of negotiations after the ninth round of negotiations between the teams of both nations in the capital of Korea, Seoul.

A trade agreement between Ecuador and China will be signed in the Asian country on a date yet to be determined in the near future

“President, we are pleased to inform you that we have just closed technical negotiations on a trade agreement with South Korea. Our negotiating team is returning from Seoul and next week we will present to Ecuador the details of what has been achieved and what the next steps will be that will lead us to the final signing of this free trade agreement in South Korea,” Prado informed the President.

The minister reminded that this agreement was stopped for six years, without almost any progress, and it was continued by the order of President Lasso, Prado pointed out. Negotiations resumed in March 2022 and 24 negotiating tables are currently 100% closed.

“It is the highest standard and the most comprehensive negotiation that has been negotiated,” concluded Prado, who pointed out that this agreement, like that of China and Costa Rica, was negotiated in record time.

In the meantime, he advanced the start of other negotiations. “We will soon start negotiations with Canada, and we are already making progress with Panama,” he commented.

Exports have doubled in the last decade

According to data from the Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor), in the last ten years, Ecuadorian non-oil exports to South Korea have doubled, allowing the Asian country to establish itself as the sixth most important destination for Ecuador on that continent. .

The union emphasized that the trade relationship with South Korea is complementary, because currently three quarters of Ecuador’s non-oil exports are food products, among which shrimp, bananas, fresh fish and animal feed stand out.

Likewise, about $8 out of every $10 of Ecuador’s non-oil imports from South Korea are capital goods, semi-finished products and raw materials for the modernization of Ecuador’s production, where South Korea is the thirteenth most important supplier.

Canada and Ecuador have agreed to start the process for a trade deal

In addition, more than 1,000 Ecuadorian companies are linked in export or import with Korean companies. Tariffs currently faced by Ecuadorian and Korean consumers amount to more than $30 million each year, so Ecuador’s current and potential export offerings to South Korea face high tariff rates.

After the technical shutdown announced by the Government, Fedexpor indicated that the translations of the text will remain in progress, the legal review for the signing of the trade agreement after that process.

“Subsequently, this text must be confirmed by the Constitutional Court and approved by the National Assembly in order for it to enter into force,” explained the trade union, which calculates an increase in potential exports of 367 million dollars, which would represent four times the value of exports. to South Korea ($89 million in 2022).