Emre
8th December 2009, 08:36
06 December 2009 - 01H47
Ecuador leader: Negotiating with China like pulling teeth
Negotiating with China is "worse than the IMF," Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, pictured in November 2009, said Saturday after rejecting China's conditions for a 1.7-billion-dollar loan to build a hydroelectric plant.
AFP - Negotiating with China is "worse than the IMF," Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Saturday after rejecting China's conditions for a 1.7-billion-dollar loan to build a hydroelectric plant.
In his weekly report on government activities, Correa said some of the conditions China's Eximbank required for the loan were "really a threat against our sovereignty."
"All of a sudden, negotiating with China is worse than the IMF" (International Monetary Fund), he added.
The leftist leader's comments came after both countries signed 4.7 billion dollars' worth of cooperation agreements last month during a visit here by Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
The loan Correa railed about concerned an agreement with China's Sinohydro company to build a 1.97-billion-dollar hydroelectric plant in Ecuador, for which he is seeking 85 percent financing from Eximbank.
Correa had already complained Tuesday about Eximbank's demand that Ecuador's Central Bank "put its assets up as collateral" for the loan, which he deemed "outrageous."
If Eximbank did not change its loan conditions, he warned that Ecuador would rethink its China policy.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Elsa Viteri said negotiations on the hydroelectric plant were continuing and that she had forwarded Eximbank the loan conditions Ecuador was willing to accept for the loan.
Correa earlier this year complained about the stringent conditions the IMF imposed in exchange for loans, and called for a regional Latin American monetary system in order to "become the owners of our own destinies."
The cooperation agreements signed last week included a 1.4-million-dollar donation and two lines of credit: one for 2.9 million dollars payable within 10 years and another for 438 million to buy four Chinese military planes for Ecuador's air force.
The two countries also signed a joint oil exploration venture in Ecuador's eastern Pastaza province.
Beijing's direct investment in Ecuador has reached 2.2 billion dollars, making it one of the top targets of Chinese investment in Latin America, Qinglin told reporters at the close of his visit.
Trade between the two countries reached 2.4 billion dollars in 2008, a 50 percent increase from the previous year, he said.
Ecuador leader: Negotiating with China like pulling teeth
Negotiating with China is "worse than the IMF," Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, pictured in November 2009, said Saturday after rejecting China's conditions for a 1.7-billion-dollar loan to build a hydroelectric plant.
AFP - Negotiating with China is "worse than the IMF," Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Saturday after rejecting China's conditions for a 1.7-billion-dollar loan to build a hydroelectric plant.
In his weekly report on government activities, Correa said some of the conditions China's Eximbank required for the loan were "really a threat against our sovereignty."
"All of a sudden, negotiating with China is worse than the IMF" (International Monetary Fund), he added.
The leftist leader's comments came after both countries signed 4.7 billion dollars' worth of cooperation agreements last month during a visit here by Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
The loan Correa railed about concerned an agreement with China's Sinohydro company to build a 1.97-billion-dollar hydroelectric plant in Ecuador, for which he is seeking 85 percent financing from Eximbank.
Correa had already complained Tuesday about Eximbank's demand that Ecuador's Central Bank "put its assets up as collateral" for the loan, which he deemed "outrageous."
If Eximbank did not change its loan conditions, he warned that Ecuador would rethink its China policy.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Elsa Viteri said negotiations on the hydroelectric plant were continuing and that she had forwarded Eximbank the loan conditions Ecuador was willing to accept for the loan.
Correa earlier this year complained about the stringent conditions the IMF imposed in exchange for loans, and called for a regional Latin American monetary system in order to "become the owners of our own destinies."
The cooperation agreements signed last week included a 1.4-million-dollar donation and two lines of credit: one for 2.9 million dollars payable within 10 years and another for 438 million to buy four Chinese military planes for Ecuador's air force.
The two countries also signed a joint oil exploration venture in Ecuador's eastern Pastaza province.
Beijing's direct investment in Ecuador has reached 2.2 billion dollars, making it one of the top targets of Chinese investment in Latin America, Qinglin told reporters at the close of his visit.
Trade between the two countries reached 2.4 billion dollars in 2008, a 50 percent increase from the previous year, he said.