Endorsement of the Ecuador’s accession to EU trade agreement with Colombia and Peru

The European Parliament's plenary session gave its consent on 14 December 2016 for Ecuador to join the EU trade agreement with Colombia and Peru.

The deal retains Ecuador’s preferential access to the European Union's market. The European Commission estimated that EU exporters could save at least €106 million in tariffs and Ecuadorian firms almost €250 million a year once the deal was fully implemented.

As a reminder, talks for a trade agreement between the three South American countries and the EU were launched in January 2009, but Ecuador decided to suspend its participation in the negotiations a few months later. In May 2013 Ecuador signalled its willingness to resume the talks and to join the Agreement with Colombia and Peru. Negotiations formally resumed in January 2014 and were concluded in July 2014. The protocol of accession was signed in November 2016.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Relations between Ecuador and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/relations-between-ecuador-and-the-eu/

EU: EEAS: Andean Community and the European Union https://eeas.europa.eu/diplomatic-network/andean-community_en

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