Daniel Legarda entered public service in March 2020, as Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade of the Lenín Moreno regime. He continued to work in the Ministry of the Vice-President after Guillermo Lasso assumed the presidency, and a few months before the early dissolution of this government, he is the one who heads the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries, a position he assumed on Monday, July 3 after the resignation of Julio José Prado. He assures that he will leave as many advanced or on the right track as possible, although he admits that he has his priorities for the four months that the regime has left.

What issues will you prioritize in these four months?

We are waiting for the signing of the trade agreement with South Korea. We are making progress in the internal process, the legal review, and later the translation, but we will leave the signed contract so that the internal ratification process can then continue.

Hopefully we will be right during the month of September, there is no set date yet, but there is a tendency that it may happen around those dates.

In the United States, an opportunity has opened regarding the IDEA Act, which was introduced by senators from both parties. What it does is allow Ecuador to enter the Caribbean’s preferential tariff program for a limited time so that while a trade agreement is being negotiated it can have preferential access, with lower tariffs, that would cover virtually 100% of our exports. It depends on the United States Congress, but we will take whatever steps we have on the table to hopefully get it approved by the United States Congress in the best case scenario, or if it hasn’t progressed enough to make a decision as soon as possible.

Negotiations with Canada will not be closed during this period, because there are processes that must be followed, certain authorizations that must be held in the Parliament of Canada, that will also be at the end of September and we hope to be able to leave the formal commercial negotiations on track so that they can continue.

Another problem in fishing is the yellow card. All the steps that have been taken have been very positive and recognized by the European Union, but we are waiting for that last step to get a favorable report that will allow Ecuador to get out of this precautionary measure and leave a traceability system, the best of all regions and hemispheres. These are the priorities before us.

Daniel Legarda becomes Minister of Production after the departure of Julio José Prado

What depends on whether the agreement with Korea will be signed in this government or not, what is expected?

What we are waiting for is only the validation of certain texts, the legal review and finally the translation. The calendar allows us to have that agreement signed… In the last visit of Minister Julio José Prado to South Korea, they confirmed that it is in their interest to be able to close the agreement.

Were there discussions with the Korean negotiators about this change of government, did they have any concerns?

All the other parties always ask questions and show a little bit that they want to know exactly what happened in Ecuador. We tried from the very beginning when the decision of the death cross was made and the calling of early elections, from that same week we took precautions to be able to contact our colleagues, ministers and deputy ministers, to explain to them what was the definition of Ecuador., to explain that it is a constitutional mechanism and to give it the message of trust as the government that the processes continue their course, that it is state policy. These comments were very well received.

If the agreement with South Korea is not signed, do you have a plan B, would you risk it?

Honestly, we did not think about this scenario, firstly because the technical negotiations have already come to an end, but above all because this is an important legacy of the public policy of President Guillermo Lasso and must be treated as a state policy, we will do everything to get this agreement signed and that it can be reviewed at least by the Constitutional Court, and then at the next assembly.

What is the status of the agreement between Costa Rica and China?

The text of the agreement with Costa Rica is at the Constitutional Court and its decision on constitutionality is awaited, the ministry has also sent its arguments on constitutionality, we hope that the Court will confirm that constitutionality in its verdict and subsequently send it to the Assembly. In the case of China, the text is before the Constitutional Court, it has already been sent to the Presidency, which needs to send the formal text to the Constitutional Court, it will be these days.

Ecuador hopes to sign a trade deal with South Korea in the months remaining in Guillermo Lasso’s government

This Government is nearing its end, is there still a lot to do?

The holes that the country has in terms of production to achieve goals in the areas of internal improvements, attracting investment and even the same commercial opening, we still need to continue to work on them, this cannot be a job that stops at one administration, which is also an administration with in the short term, these are state policies that must be continued. Significant progress has been made on all fronts, but gaps certainly remain. We will leave various issues advanced and specified, and others on the way that must be continued under other names, perhaps with the next administration.

Three years ago, you came from the private sector to the public sector, will you return when this government passes?

I am very focused on this great responsibility of the head of this state department, which is extremely large. These three years I was dedicated to a very important part, which is foreign trade. Now I have the responsibility of taking on other equally important areas, and for now my efforts and all my thoughts are focused on completing good governance, and then we will think about what will happen later.