President Lasso presents in New York his vision to boost Ecuador’s economy

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, presented this Monday to about a hundred investors at the headquarters of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas (AS/COA) his vision of trade openness and strategic projects, as well as in a meeting organized with the Goldman Sachs group.

This was stated by the General Secretariat of Communication of the Ecuadorian Presidency, reporting on the meeting in New York with around 80 business people and investors virtually and another dozen in person.

Under the maxim of “working energetically to achieve more Ecuador in the world and more world in Ecuador”, the President presented his policy of commercial openness and several alternatives of strategic projects to his interlocutors.

Lasso stressed the importance of the vaccination plan developed by his government, which “has not only been a social program, but it is the first economic program” by which 81% of the population over 18 years of age has been covered against Covid-19.

“We have achieved this based on two pillars: getting the vaccines thanks to international cooperation and carrying out an unprecedented logistical vaccination plan that linked the entire Ecuadorian society,” said the president.

In his speech, he also spoke of strategies implemented in security matters and the consolidation of democracy and respect for citizens’ freedoms, highlighting actions such as the freedom of expression bill.

In parallel, he reported on the management of the Executive branch to promote the attraction of investments and generate an economical and productive reactivation in Ecuador, which has been going through a liquidity crisis in its public finances since 2019 and still requires assistance from the multilateral to be able to get out of the rut due to the pandemic.

For her part, the president and managing director of the AS/COA, Susan Segal, congratulated President Lasso and his team for the results he has had with the mass vaccination plan against covid-19, according to the statement.

“These achievements show that Ecuador is walking towards a solid recovery. The President today has an approval rating of 74%, more than many of his counterparts in the world,” she said. She stated that the entity plans to return to Ecuador next year, with a series of conferences throughout the region.

Segal indicated that they would continue to work together with the Andean country to support the current administration’s growth plan and promote a free trade agreement with the United States.

One of Pfizer’s representatives, Carlos Eduardo Murillo, told the Ecuadorian president: “You can count on our permanent collaboration, not only in the joint fight against the pandemic but also in bringing greater and better health for Ecuadorians.”

In another commitment of this trip, on the UN General Assembly session, the Ecuadorian president was received by the CEO of Goldman Sachs, David M. Salomon, for another financial meeting, which he attended with Foreign Minister Mauricio Montalvo and the ambassador in Washington, Ivonne Baki.

Lasso wants these appointments to promote the image of a new Ecuador, open to the world and willing to receive foreign investment under conditions of legal certainty.