China, Ecuador launch talks on trade agreement

China and Ecuador have officially launched negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement, according to an online statement from China's Ministry of Commerce on Sunday.

Wang Wentao, commerce minister of China, and Julio José Prado, minister of production, foreign trade, investments and fisheries of Ecuador, recently signed a memorandum of understanding on launching the China-Ecuador free trade agreement negotiations, which marked the two nations' official entry into the negotiations, the statement said.

The two nations started a joint study into the feasibility of signing an FTA in September last year, which was completed in January. The negotiations on the FTA will help tap bilateral trade potential and promote sustainable, stable, and diversified development of trade between the two nations, the ministry's statement said.

China-Ecuador bilateral trade has been growing remarkably in recent years, thanks to their progress in economic and trade cooperation, data from MOC showed.

Trade volume between the two nations surged by 44.5 percent year-on-year to hit $10.95 billion, making China Ecuador's second-largest trading partner for two successive years.