Some of Ecuador’s main seafood exports, including shrimp and tuna, could benefit after ministers from the member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland – and from Ecuador confirmed the launch free trade negotiations in Bern.
A joint statement launching the negotiations was signed by Lilja Alfredsdottir, minister for foreign affairs and external trade of Iceland (EFTA vice chair); Aurelia Frick, minister of foreign affairs of Liechtenstein; Monica Maeland, minister of trade and industry of Norway; and Didier Chambovey, ambassador and delegate of the Federal Council for Trade Agreements, head of the World Trade Division, state secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland; as well as by Juan Carlos Cassinelli Cali, minister of foreign trade of Ecuador.
Merchandise trade between the EFTA States and Ecuador has increased at an average annual rate of 10 percent between 2005 and 2015.
In 2015, total merchandise trade between EFTA and Ecuador amounted to USD 288 million (EUR 258.4 million). The EFTA States exported goods to Ecuador worth USD 125 million (EUR 112.1 million), while imports stood at USD 163 million (EUR 146.2 million).
With a combined population of around 13 million, and a combined GDP of USD 1.2 trillion (EUR 1.1 trillion), the EFTA states are the world’s 9th largest merchandise trader and the 5th largest trader in commercial services, as well as significant actors in the area of foreign direct investment.
They now have 27 FTAs with a total of 38 partners outside the EU.
