The National Assembly of Ecuador unanimously approved this Tuesday the trade agreement signed with Costa Ricadescribed as cutting-edge and which was signed between both governments in San José in March of last year.
The approval of the agreement was achieved with the unanimous vote of the 118 legislators who were present at the plenary session of the Assembly to discuss the commercial instrument that is estimated to increase the volume of bilateral exchange by 10%.
The treaty was signed on March 1, 2023 in San José between the president of Costa Rica, the social democrat Rodrigo Chaves, and the then president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, who left power at the end of last November.
The agreement, which aims to release more than 90% of the bilateral trade offer, is also necessary for both countries because it seeks their incorporation into the Pacific Alliance, a regional association mechanism that is currently made up of Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru.
During the debate this Tuesday in the plenary session of the Ecuadorian Assembly, the official legislator Jonathan Parra assured that during the negotiation of the trade agreement with Costa Rica care was taken to ensure that the agreement protected and helped small and medium-sized businesses.
He recalled that, with the agreement, 97% of Ecuador’s exportable supply to Costa Rica will enter with tariff preferences and that 84% of that universe will do so without any type of tariff from the first day it comes into force.
His colleague Raisa Corral, from the Citizen Revolution movement, whose leader is former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), observed that this agreement is different from others, since it is a cutting-edge agreement and represents an “evolution of agreements.” traditional commercial activities.
In addition, he highlighted the economic, social and cultural similarities between both nations and the opportunity that opens with the agreement “to strengthen the Ecuadorian economy by offering new markets for our products.”
According to a report from the Assembly, this trade agreement will improve the competitiveness of canned and preserved fish, metal manufactures, wooden boards, medicines, shrimp, white goods, porcelain and sanitary ceramics, pasta, leather and textiles, among others.
The agreement also excludes sensitive products such as beef, edible offal, dairy products, pineapple, cassava, sugar, unroasted coffee, among others, of which Costa Rica is an important exporter.
With this agreement, Ecuador plans to balance the balance of competitiveness with Costa Rica, since currently 65% of Ecuadorian exports pay tariffs upon entry to that market of 5 million consumers; while with the agreement that volume will enter with a zero tariff.
The trade agreement with Costa Rica is added to the one that the National Assembly ratified on February 7 with China, while the free trade agreement signed with South Korea is in the ratification process. EFE
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