Canada's Minister of International Trade, Maninder Sidhu, was in Quito, Ecuador to represent the Government of Canada in Quito at the inauguration of Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa.
While in Ecuador Minister Sidhu, Together with his counterpart Luis Jaramillo, Minister Foreign Trade issued a joint statement marking the successful conclusion earlier this year of negotiations for the Canada-Ecuador Free Trade Agreement (FTA), with the goal of bringing it into force as soon as possible. Canada and Ecuador began negotiations for an FTA in April 2024.
The joint statement said: "In order to bring the Agreement into force, we commit to commencing our respective domestic procedures necessary for signature and ratification of the FTA, with the objective of bringing the agreement into force as soon as possible."
The trade relationship between Canada and Ecuador is highly complementary; Canada imports tropical fruits, flowers, cacao and seafood from Ecuador, while Ecuador buys wheat, lentils and peas from Canada
With the entry into force of the Canada-Ecuador Free Trade Agreement, Canada will have trade agreements with all the countries on the South American Pacific Coast.