 |
On 12 December, the European Commission announced that Ecuador and the EU had initialed the protocol that will allow Ecuador to join its neighbours, Colombia and Peru, in a preferential trade relationship with the EU.
According to the Commission:
The negotiations for a trade agreement between the EU and the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) were launched in June 2007. After stalling in 2008, the talks continued in 2009 with Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In July of that year Ecuador dropped out of the negotiations. An agreement was concluded with Colombia and Peru in March 2010 and signed in June 2012. It has been provisionally applied with Peru since 1 March 2013 and with Colombia since 1 August 2013.
Contacts were maintained with Ecuador and Bolivia after they left the talks. Seeing the potential for improving EU-Ecuador trade, as well as for its domestic development objectives, Ecuador returned to the negotiating table in January 2014. An agreement was reached achieved in July.
The agreement will allow Ecuador to benefit from improved access for its main exports to the EU – fisheries, bananas, cut flowers, coffee, cocoa, fruits and nuts. The terms of the new arrangement go beyond the unilateral EU Generalised Scheme of Preferences, for which Ecuador is no longer eligible. The Agreement will also provide improved access to the Ecuadorian market for many key EU exports, for example in the automotive sector or for alcoholic beverages. However, the agreement will not only secure access to markets; more importantly it will also create a stable and predictable environment that will help boost and diversify trade and investment on both sides.
|
