In his, his first trip to this country located in the Andes bordered by the Pacific, Colombia and Peru, Minister Asselborn was received in Quito by his counterpart, José Valencia, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador for in-depth discussions on bilateral relations and the regional situation.
Minister Asselborn stressed that Luxembourg fully complies with the OECD rules and that the administrative exchange of tax information with Ecuador will be possible as soon as its accession to the relevant Convention of Ecuador will come into effect, on 1 January 2020. Minister Asselborn welcomed the decision to remove Luxembourg from the Ecuadorian list, which will remove the main obstacle to strengthening bilateral economic and financial relations.
The exchange of views between the two ministers also made it possible to take stock of the situation in Ecuador, its relations with neighbouring countries as well as the regional perspectives, the year 2019 having been a year marked by social tensions in a number of South American countries.
Ministers also discussed the situation in Venezuela and the unprecedented migration crisis it has created for other countries in the region. Like Jean Asselborn, Minister José Valencia is also in charge of migration and human mobility issues. He recalled that Ecuador is particularly affected by the crisis as it hosts at least 400,000 Venezuelan refugees and migrants. Ecuador is behind a major regional initiative, the Quito process, which aims to coordinate the efforts of the 12 Latin American countries affected by this migration crisis.