“We have closed the negotiations and closed them well,” Ecuador’s foreign trade minister, Francisco Rivadeneira, said on 11 August in reference to the trade agreement struck with the European Union (EU) in July. A long legislative journey awaits before the trade accord can take effect but Rivadeneira was keen to stress that it had been “a very positive negotiation for Ecuador”, with widespread benefits for exporters and “extremely small” costs which were “difficult to identify”. He argued that the repercussions of failing to reach an accord would have been very negative, with “enormous unemployment in the country”.End of preview - This article contains approximately 1734 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options