Ecuador seeks to restart trade agreement talks with Europe

Ecuador is seeking an “affirmative response” from the European Union to restart trade talks stalled since the government of South America’s seventh-biggest economy stopped negotiations in 2009.

Ecuador, the world’s biggest banana exporter, wants a “commercial agreement for development” that includes technology and knowledge transfer, Francisco Rivadeneira, deputy minister of commerce at the Foreign Ministry, said today in an e-mailed statement. President Rafael Correa has said he won’t sign a traditional free trade agreement.