Exporters from Ecuador ask the Government to be careful with trade partners like Russia

The Ecuadorian Federation of Exporters (Fedexpor) This Tuesday, he asked the Ecuadorian authorities to be very careful and prudent with the country’s main trading partners, after achieving that Russia lift the suspensions imposed on five banana exporting companies.

“You have to be very careful with international relations. “Ecuador is a country that cannot afford to lose a single dollar in exports,” the president of Fedexpor, Miguel Ribadeneira, said in a press conference, given the prospects of barely any growth in the best-case scenario for 2024.

Ribadeneira appreciated that it has been possible to resolve the suspensions imposed by Russia, Ecuador’s fourth trading partner and the first destination for Ecuadorian bananas.

The suspension coincided with the announcement by the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, to deliver Soviet military equipment to the United States in exchange for receiving new American equipment worth 200 million dollars and that what was sent would be used to reinforce Ukraine in its war. against Russia.

The lifting of trade restrictions imposed with Russia also coincided with the rethinking of the decision of the Ecuadorian Government, which assured that it will not send war material to any international armed conflict.

Ribadeneira pointed out that Ecuador has “a complex position as a country by holding the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council”, where it is part of this body as a non-permanent member for the period 2023-2024.

The Fedexpor leader advocated not opening unnecessary fronts, taking care of their markets and even deepening relations with Russia, but warned of the need to also diversify markets so that a product does not depend on sales to a single country, as happens with a good part of the shrimp, which goes to China; and bananas, with Russia.

Ribadeneira explained that the panorama of Ecuadorian exports for 2024 is complex in the face of an international situation of low prices in most of Ecuador’s star export products, where the great exception is cocoa, which currently registers the maximum prices internationally. of all history.

Faced with the uncertain scenario of 2024, Fedexpor aimed to advance Ecuador’s trade agenda after having ratified the trade agreement with China and also having ratification submissions from those of Costa Rica and South Korea.

He considered advancing the negotiations to have a trade agreement with Canada and continuing to work so that the IDEA Law is approved in the United States, with which Ecuador would be included in the tariff preference agreement that the countries of the Caribbean basin have to enter to the US market.

Ribadeneira recalled that Ecuador is the only country in the Pacific basin that does not have a trade agreement with the United States when currently the Andean country has become one of its great allies in the region.

Thus, he trusted that, given the difficulty of negotiating a free trade agreement now, the IDEA Law can free more than 95% of Ecuador’s exportable supply from tariffs, which he hopes to achieve during this year, before it ends. the term of President Joe Biden.

However, in the event of a possible new electoral victory for Donald Trump, the president of Fedexpor even sees possibilities for the IDEA Law to be accelerated since he recalled that during his mandate there were good relations and a first-phase trade agreement was negotiated.

Ecuador is the world’s leading exporter of bananas and shrimp, as well as the third largest exporter of flowers and the fourth largest exporter of cocoa.