US
BIOTERRORISM LAW TELECONFERENCE
The
teleconference “FDA regulations on the Bioterrorism
Law” took place on April 29 The Ecuadorian Embassy
in the United States, the National Commission for
follow-up on the Bioterrorism Law and the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) attended
the event.
The
conference started with words by Mr. Walter Batts,
Assistant Director of the International programs of
the FDA, and Raul Gangotena, Ambassador of Ecuador
in the United States.
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The main purpose of this teleconference was to inform
the agro-export sector about the scope of the US legislation
on Bioterrorism, as well as to explain the peculiarities
of the proposed regulations to enable people to give
their opinions and suggestions in view of facilitating
and making its application feasible.
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More than 100 people attended the conference, which
was broadcast live from Washington, with simultaneous
translation, to Quito, Guayaquil, Machala and Quevedo.
The main subjects of the conference were: advance
notice, designation of an agent in the United States,
new regulations and practical case study.
OFFICIAL
VISIT OF PRESIDENT OF ECUADOR TO CHILE
One of the achievements of the official visit by Ecuadorian
President Lucio Gutierrez to Chile on April 21-22
was the elimination of the 6% tariff on our oil exports
towards the Chilean market.
The
mission consisted in 28 exporting firms that participated
in a business round coordinated by the Exports and
Investments Promotion Corporation (CORPEI), the Chamber
of Trade of Santiago and the Latin American Association
for Integration (ALADI).
Each
firm held an average number of 16 meetings, not including
the different buyers that showed their interest during
the presentation and went to the business round to
meet the exporters.
This multi-sector mission included exporting firms
from the following industrial sectors:
According
to evaluations made to each of the participating businessmen,
the number of contacts exceeded their expectations
and opened a lot of trade opportunities in the short
term.
ARGENTINA
ALLOWS ACCESS OF ECUADORIAN FISH PRODUCTS
As a result of the intervention of the National Institute
for Fisheries, the Under-Secretariat of Fishery Resources,
several firms from the private sector and the Embassy
of Ecuador in Argentina, the Argentinean National
Service for Health and Food Quality (SENASA) issued
a technical report in recent days. This report was
favorable to the 14 fish processing plants of Ecuador
that were examined and evaluated by 2 professionals
from SENASA in March 2004. These evaluations helped
to approve Ecuadorian exports of fish products to
Argentina.
The
report gave the approval to Ecuadorian plants to export
products such as canned tuna to the Argentinean market
for an initial period of 2 years starting on April
12, 2004. This permit can be renewed and is subject
to the relevant inspections by SENASA. For accepted
plants, new inspections will take place in April 2006.
Taking
advantage of the inspection visit, an additional 3
processing plants have been accepted and qualified
until December 2004 to export their products to Argentina.
A new evaluation of these 3 processing plants has
to be done in December by SENASA.
Ecuadorian
firms committed themselves to maintaining the technical
and health levels established by SENASA in order to
be able to continue exporting fish products to the
Argentinean market.
ECUADOR
WILL PLACE 30,000 TONS OF BANANAS IN CHINESE MARKET
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that the
steps taken for the promotion of exports of Ecuadorian
bananas helped to close a deal whereby the government
of the People’s Republic of China agrees to
buy 30,000 tons of Ecuadorian bananas in 2004.
This
is the result of the new policy of this Ministry,
focused on expanding our international markets and
on promoting Ecuadorian agro-industrial products in
cooperation with the private sector, with the goal
of obtaining better sales of products included in
the national exports offer.
TRADE
PROMOTION ACTIVITIES BY ECUADORIAN EMBASSY IN PERU
NEW
SHIPPING SERVICE BETWEEN GUAYAQUIL AND MONTEVIDEO
The Embassy of Ecuador in Uruguay informed that the
Brazilian shipping company “Alianza Navegaçao
e Logistica”, owned by the German group “Oetker” will start a new shipping service in the Pacific area,
joining the harbor of Montevideo with harbors in Chile,
Ecuador and Peru. The route Montevideo-Guayaquil will
be covered in 17 days.
With
this new route, the exports sector of Uruguay will
have, in mid-April, a service for fresh and frozen
products. Vessels “Alianza Andes” and
“Alianza Patagonia” can transport up to
600 containers each. According to the General Manager
of the branch of Hamburg Sud in this city, both container
carriers will link the Brazilian harbor of Santos
with Valparaiso in Chile, going through Montevideo,
and finally arriving to Guayaquil.
SEMINAR ABOUT ALADI’S RECIPROCAL PAYMENT
SYSTEM
The seminar “Dialogue about ALADI’s Reciprocal
Payment System” was held on April 21. This seminar
was organized by the Venezuelan-Ecuadorian Chamber
of Trade (CAVENEC) with the support of our Embassy
in Venezuela, and took place in the headquarters of
Banco Mercantil.
The keynote addresses of the meeting were given by
Pablo Pozo Morales, specialist in foreign trade, and
by Carla Solaris, Coordinator of exchange rate control
of Banco Mercantil. The speakers presented the system
and answered questions about the application of ALADI’s
Reciprocal Payment System within the exchange rate
control that takes place in Venezuela.
This
seminar was a great opportunity for Venezuelan businessmen
who import Ecuadorian products to learn more about
the application of this system so that they can use
it to speed up trade transactions, being fully aware
of its mechanisms, especially while exchange rate
controls remain in force in Venezuela.
ECUADORIAN
BUSINESS MISSION VISITS BARCELONA
Our Consulate in Barcelona informed that in recent
days a business mission from the Official Chamber
of Commerce of Spain in Quito visited Barcelona. This
event called the attention of a large group of diverse
sectors of the Ecuadorian industry, such as construction,
commerce, publishers, flower industry, tourism and
services.
The
mission was headed by Rafael Roldan, President of
the Spanish Chamber of Commerce and Industries of
Quito, accompanied by Marcia Pesantes, Executive Director
of the Chamber.
There
were also representatives from the Chamber of Commerce
of Riobamba and several aldermen from the local council
of Riobamba.
SPANISH
PRESS HIGHLIGHTS ECUADORIAN ROSES IN HOLY WEEK IN
SEVILLE
The Sevillian press highlighted the presence of Ecuadorian
roses in the parade of the Holy Mary of the Waters,
during the procession celebrated in Seville on Good
Monday.
The
daily “ABC” revealed that the pallium
carrying the Virgin’s statue, which dates back
to the 18th century, had a “peculiar flower
arrangement with buds of Ecuadorian white roses, which
were especially brought from that American country
a few hours before the procession, at the request
of Francisco Carrion Mena, Ambassador of Ecuador in
Spain.”
The daily “El Mundo” on the other hand,
published a photograph of the flower arrangements
on its front page and said that “the Ecuadorian
Association of flower Exporters (EXPOFLORES) donated
the flowers that were shown during the procession
of Las Aguas. This gesture links this South American
country with the corporation that has the Virgin of
Guadeloupe –patron of the Americas- as it’s
most sacred image, while helping to promote one of
its quintessential national products.”
DELEGATION
FROM CHINESE-ECUADORIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE VISITS
CHINA
Our Embassy in China reported that a delegation of
46 persons visited that country recently. The visit
was organized by the Ecuadorian-Chinese Chamber of
Commerce (CCECH), presided by Washington Hagó.
The
delegation was headed by Jorge M. Marun, Prefect of
the province of Los Rios, and included businessmen
from the Chinese imports products sector.
ESTABLISHMENT OF OMBUDSMAN FOR EXPORTERS FROM
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Our Embassy in Sweden reported that the Swedish government
will establish an Ombudsman for exporters from developing
countries.
This decision is based on the fact that there has
been a progressive deterioration of the share of developing
countries in global trade, especially from the less
developed ones. One of the reasons that has led to
this situation is precisely the complex system of
regulations created by the wealthiest nations.
The
Swedish government believes that the creation of this “Trade Ombudsman” is a clear step to encourage
economic growth in developing countries and, accordingly,
to reduce poverty.
This
plan aims to facilitate the work of exporters from
the developing world, without denying Swedish consumers
access to a broad choice of products.
ECUADOR
TO SIGN OIL CONTRACT WITH FRENCH FIRM
Our Embassy in France informed that the firm TEVIER
will sign an important contract with Petroecuador
to purchase Ecuadorian 12,000 barrels of Ecuadorian
oil per day, starting at the end of May.
This
information was provided by Michael Hatchwell, Management
Director and son of the wner and manager of TEVIER.
It
is worth stressing that this firm has worked with
our country before, buying up to 24,000 oil barrels
per day, but that contract ended in 2003.
ECUADORIAN
WEEK IN GENOA
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our Embassy in
Italy are coordinating the Ecuadorian week in Genoa,
which will take place on May 11-15.
During
this event there will be several cultural, commercial,
tourist and academic activities, which will be supported
by the Foundation “Casa America” of Genoa.
The
main objective of this project is to consolidate links
among the Ecuadorian community in Genoa and to strengthen
Ecuador’s presence in that city, with the presentation
of activities addressed to various social and economic
sectors of Genoa.
PUBLISHING OF CATALOGUE “ECUADOR EXPORTS” 2004
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Export Promotion
and Investments Corporation –CORPEI- published
the catalogue “Ecuador Exports 2004”,
in English and Spanish, as established in the Institutional
Cooperation Agreement signed on December 22, 2003.
The
main goal of this deluxe catalogue is to display the
potential of our main export products, taking advantage
of the important infrastructure and resources of the
External Trade Network created by both institutions.
The
catalogue also highlights our main traditional products,
such as bananas, coffee and cocoa, as well as several
non-traditional products that have increased their
production and contribution to our balance of payments
in recent years, helping also to the diversification
of the Ecuadorian exports offer.
The
official presentation of the catalogue will take place
on May 28 in “Capilla del Hombre”, with
the presence of national government authorities, representatives
from production chambers, national and foreign press
and other special guests who will also attend the
various events organized on the occasion of the Miss
Universe pageant that will be held in Quito on June
1.
