Ecuador awaits Mexico’s response to negotiate the FTA, says minister
Market Research Telecast | 5 August 2021
Ecuador awaits Mexico’s response to negotiate the FTA, says minister
Quito, Aug 5 (EFE) .- Ecuador is waiting for a response from Mexico to return to the negotiating table for a free trade agreement between the two that opens the long-awaited path to the Pacific Alliance, after the return of the country Andean to the ICSID mechanism.
“I am waiting for a response from my Mexican counterpart to define when we will return to sit at the negotiating table,” the Minister of Production and Foreign Trade, Julio José Prado, confirmed to Efe, when asked about the negotiations with that country, “key “for the incorporation of Ecuador to the Pacific Alliance.
Prado highlighted that one of the obstacles that existed, related to investment protection, has already been resolved with the reincorporation of his country to ICSID, the international forum for the settlement of differences between investors and States in most international treaties. .
Ecuador entered this mechanism in 1986 but it left in 2010 during the government of former President Rafael Correa, thereby allowing the resolution of disputes in Ecuadorian courts, which was not to the liking of investors.
Less than a month after taking office, Lasso ordered his immediate return and on June 21 the agreement was signed.
Prado explained that it was a “stumbling block” and that, once resolved, Ecuador expects a return to the negotiating table “within the next few weeks, no later than months,” and that Lasso himself has requested it to do so. his Mexican colleague, Manuel López Obrador.
After those it has with Chile, Peru and Colombia, the free trade agreement with Mexico is crucial for the Andean country to join the Alliance, Lasso’s primary objective for his policy of “more Ecuador in the world, and more world in Ecuador. “.
“The route we have to follow to open Ecuador to the world (begins with) Mexico and, once closed with them, the Pacific Alliance. Mexico is a stepping stone towards the Alliance, but it is also very important in itself to get there without tariffs and because it is the main private investor in Ecuador, “he said.
And he added that there are “eleven negotiating tables that have to do with market access (the entire issue of tariffs), intellectual property, financial issues, investments and other types such as rules of origin and others.”
