EU: Ecuador "rejects EU call to drop banana complaint"

By: just-food.com | 13 February 2009

Ecuador, the world's largest banana exporter, has rejected calls to drop complaints filed with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to knock down EU import tariffs on the fruit, according to reports.

EU regulators have called for talks to negotiate a deal with Ecuador to "gradually reduce" European tariffs and put an end to the long-running dispute.

"There is no way (we will drop the complaints)," Fander Falconi, Ecuador's foreign minister, told Reuters. "Our position has always been very consistent."

When the Doha trade talks collapsed in July 2008, the EU said the deal had to be part of a "wider" Doha agreement.

However, Latin America is insisting that it is a separate pact and that the EU must stick to the deal originally negotiated in July.

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