LatinNews Daily - 11 October 2023

* Ecuador has signed a trade agreement with South Korea, which President Guillermo Lasso’s government says will reduce tariffs for 98.8% of Ecuador’s exports to the country. The agreement, signed in Seoul between Ecuador’s minister of production, foreign trade & investment, Daniel Legarda, and South Korea’s minister of trade, industry & energy, Bang Moon-kyu, was described in an Ecuadorean presidential statement as “the broadest and most modern that Ecuador has negotiated”. The statement said that the agreement is predicted to boost Ecuador’s non-oil exports by 27%, eliminating tariffs for products including coffee, cacao, chocolate, and dairy products, while establishing a timeframe for the elimination of tariffs on other key products such as bananas. In return, the statement highlighted the potential of South Korean technology to modernise Ecuador’s economy. It said that Ecuador will benefit from “Korean cooperation in areas such as efficient production, innovative methods and machinery for recycling products, and the establishment of a technological plant for the development of the food industry in Ecuador”.