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Interview: Ecuador, China to continue bolstering strategic partnership

Xinhua, May 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

Ecuador and China will continue to strengthen their strategic partnership in the areas of commerce, economy and politics, an Ecuadorian minister has said.

In a recent interview in Mexico City with Xinhua, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility Ruben Flores Agreda noted that his country and China have forged a successful relationship based on a respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and the principle of non-intervention.

"We have strategic ties with China and China has been essential in financing Ecuador," said Agreda, who was in the Mexican capital to attend the 36th session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) meant to help regional countries overcome severe economic disparities.

Agreda lauded China's assistance in helping his country overcome the aftermath of a powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake that devastated parts of the Ecuadorian coast in April and killed nearly 700 people.

"For Ecuador...the important thing was the relative weight of support from various countries, including China," said Agreda.

Aside from sending a rescue team to Ecuador, the Chinese government delivered 60 million yuan (about 9.5 million U.S. dollars) worth of humanitarian aid materials to tens of thousands of victims in the deadly earthquake in Ecuador.

Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce for Chinese Companies in Ecuador, made up of over 120 Chinese enterprises donated 138,000 U.S. dollars on April 21 to help fund Ecuador's disaster relief.

Ecuador is relying on cooperation between developing and emerging countries to spur what the South American country really needs, said Agreda, which is "to rebuild infrastructure" for the thousands left homeless.

"From that perspective, we believe that South-South cooperation is a key tool," said Agreda, adding as many as 30,000 families are still living in shelters, and that is a situation that "must be resolved in the shortest term." Endi