Daniel Legarda entered the civil service in March 2020, as Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade in the regime of Lenín Moreno. He continued in the vice-ministry once Guillermo Lasso took over the presidency and a few months before the anticipated end of this government, he is the one who heads the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fishing, a position he assumed on Monday, July 3 after the resignation of Julio José Prado. He assures that he will leave as many files advanced or on the right track, although he admits having his priorities for these four months that the regime has left.

What problems will you prioritize during these four months?

We are awaiting the signing of the trade agreement with South Korea. We are moving forward with the internal process, the legal review and later the translation, but we will leave the agreement signed so that it can then continue its internal ratification process.

We hope to be right sometime in September, there’s still no definite date, but it’s an aspiration that it might happen around those dates.

An opportunity has opened up in the United States regarding the IDEA Act, which was introduced by senators from both parties. What it does is allow Ecuador to enter a Caribbean tariff preference program for a period of time so that while the trade agreement is being negotiated, it can have preferential access, with lower tariffs, which would cover almost 100% of our exports. It’s up to the United States Congress, but we’re going to take whatever action we have on the desk to hopefully, in the best case scenario, get this approved by the United States Congress or, if not. ‘is not sufficiently advanced, so that it can be a decision that is taken as soon as possible.

The negotiation with Canada will not be closed in this time frame, because there are processes to follow, certain authorizations to obtain from the Parliament of Canada, this will also take place at the end of September and we hope to be able to leave the commercial negotiation formal on the right track so that they can continue.

Another problem in fishing is the yellow card. All the measures that have been taken have been very positive and recognized by the European Union, but this last step is waiting to have a favorable report that allows Ecuador to come out of this precaution and leave a traceability system in place, the best of the region and the hemisphere. These are the priorities that await us.

Daniel Legarda becomes Minister of Production after the departure of Julio José Prado

What depends on whether or not the agreement with Korea is signed in this government, what are we waiting for?

What we are waiting for is simply the validation of certain texts, the legal revision and finally the translation. The timetable allows us to have this agreement signed… During Minister Julio José Prado’s last visit to South Korea, they confirmed that it was in their interest to be able to conclude the agreement.

Was this change of government discussed with the Korean negotiators, did they have any concerns?

All counterparts always ask questions and show a little bit that they want to know exactly what happened in Ecuador. We made the effort from the beginning when the decision of the death cross and the early call for elections were made, since that same week we have taken the precautions to be able to contact our counterparts, ministers and vice-ministers, to explain to them what the definition of Ecuador was. , explain that it is a constitutional mechanism and give it this message of confidence as an authority that the processes continue their course, that it is a state policy. These comments were very well received.

If the agreement with South Korea is not signed, do you have a plan B, would you take risks?

I am honest, we did not consider this scenario, firstly because the technical negotiation is already over, but above all because it is an important public policy legacy from President Guillermo Lasso and he must be treated as a state policy, we will do the work that I will do so that this agreement is signed and can be reviewed by the Constitutional Court at least and then by the next Assembly.

Where are the agreements between Costa Rica and China?

The text of the agreement with Costa Rica is at the Constitutional Court awaiting its constitutionality decision, the ministry has also sent its constitutionality arguments, we hope that the Court will ratify this constitutionality in the decision and then send it to the Assembly. In the case of China, the text is about to enter the Constitutional Court, it has already been sent to the Presidency, which must send the formal text to the CC, it will be in these days.

Ecuador hopes to sign a trade agreement with South Korea in the months remaining in the government of Guillermo Lasso

This government is ending, is there still much to do?

The shortcomings that the country has in terms of production to achieve the objectives in the areas of internal improvements, investment attraction and even the same trade openness, we still have to continue to work on it, this cannot be a job which stops at a single administration, which is also an administration with a shorter time, these are state policies that must continue. Significant progress has been made on all fronts, but gaps certainly remain. We are going to leave various files advanced and clarified and others in progress which must be pursued under other names, perhaps with the next administration.

Three years ago you came to the public sector from the private sector, will you come back once this government is over?

“I am very focused on this great responsibility of being at the head of this state portfolio, which is extremely vast. These three years, I have dedicated myself to a very important part, which is foreign trade. Now, I have a responsibility to take on other equally important areas, and right now my efforts and all my thoughts are focused on finishing good management, so we’ll think about what comes next. (YO)