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Sameh Saeid
Doha
An increase in imports from Ecuador is going to push this year's trade volume with Qatar up by around 70 percent over the previous year, Ecuadorian Ambassador to Qatar HE Kabalan Abisaab said in Doha on Wednesday.
He was speaking at a meeting organised by the Ecuadorian Embassy in collaboration with the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The meeting also featured an exhibition of Ecuadorian products, including confectionary, plants, fruits and coffee.
The meeting was aimed at exploring investment opportunities in Qatar and Ecuador, and was attended by Qatar Chamber Vice Chairman Muhammed bin Ahmed bin Towar al Kuwari and a number of Qatari businessmen and representatives from Ecuadorian companies, besides HE Kabalan Abisaab.
Abisaab told Qatar Tribune that Ecuador and Qatar had signed more than 14 agreements that are largely aimed at facilitating trade and investments between the two countries.
He said the strengthening of the US dollar would attract more Qatari investors to Ecuador as the country uses USD as its national currency.
Ecuador appeals to a lot of Qatari businessmen as an investment destination and more than one business group from Qatar visited the country in the last two years. Recently, a major Qatari company made a $150-million investment in the Ecuadorian oil and mining sectors.
Abisaab was all praise for the growing relations between Qatar and Ecuador at all levels, and called upon Qatari businessmen to make use of the opportunities in importing banana, flowers and chocolate from Ecuador.
"Ecuador is one of the most dynamic economies in Latin America. Despite the global economic crisis of 2009, it maintained an annual average growth of 4.6 percent from 2007 to 2014, which is among the highest in the region. Ecuador is on the UN list of countries with high human development index, after having climbed 10 spots with Hong Kong," he said.
