Ecuador and Russia will sign an agreement after lifting suspensions on banana exporters

The phytosanitary agencies of Ecuador and Russia will sign a memorandum of understanding after the Russian authorities lifted the suspensions of five Ecuadorian companies banana exporterswhich were in effect for two weeks.

This is the main agreement reached between the government delegates of both countries in the meeting they held this Monday to discuss this matter, as reported in a statement by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Ecuador.

They also ratified the lifting of restrictions and agreed to maintain a direct channel of communication between the phytosanitary services of both countries.

At this meeting, the protocols and work plans that give guarantees to Russia and other important destinations regarding the Ecuadorian products that are exported were presented, the Ministry said in its statement.

The suspension of the five Ecuadorian banana exporters by Russia coincided with the announcement by the Government of Ecuador to deliver Soviet military equipment to the United States in exchange for receiving new American equipment and that Washington could use the material received to reinforce Ukraine in his war against Russia.

Now the lifting of the suspensions coincided with the rethinking of the Ecuadorian Executive, which assures that it will not send war material to international armed conflicts.

However, both the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, Gabriela Sommerfeld, and the Russian ambassador to Ecuador, Vladimir Sprinchan, have assured that there is no connection between the two issues.

The two parties agreed that the controversy with banana exports dates back six months, with alerts from Russia for the alleged presence of the humpback fly (megaselia scalaris) in shipments of Ecuadorian bananas that were not attended to as the authorities expected. Russian.

Among the companies that were affected by the suspensions are Agzulasa Cia, Don Carlos Fruit SA, Agroaereo Fruit Export SA, Agricultural Production Association of El Oro (Asoproagroro) and Comercializadora de Banano, which represent less than 25% of Ecuador’s banana exports. to Russia.

Ecuador is the world’s leading banana exporter, with more than 6.5 million tons in 2023, according to statistics from the Association of Banana Exporters of Ecuador (AEBE).

Of that volume, Russia It is the first destination country for Ecuadorian banana exports with 1.37 million tons in 2023, equivalent to 22.85% of the total.

The turnover of banana exports amounted to US$3,255 million between January and November 2023, of which US$690 million were for shipments to Russia, which has Ecuador as practically its only external supplier of bananas, representing 98 % of its imports of this fruit.