[NYTr] Ecuador Looks East, Especially to China Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:22:12 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Prensa Latina, Havana http://www.plenglish.com Ecuador Looks to China Beijing, Nov 21 (Prensa Latina) Ecuador has taken the political and strategic decision of looking to the East in this century, particularly China, President Rafael Correa affirmed Wednesday in the Chinese capital. Correa, who is on a 5-day China visit, made his statements at the inauguration of a bilateral Economic and Commercial Forum at the headquarters of the Chinese Council for International Trade Promotion. Ecuador aims to jack up its commercial deficit with the Chinese market, which amounted to about 500 million dollars in 2006, he said. To achieve that goal, Ecuadorian businesspeople intend to promote Chinese trips to Ecuador, after authorities from the Asian country recognized the South American nation as an authorized tourism destination. Quito also wants China to facilitate a tax cut for Ecuadorian bananas, and in turn, it will try to raise sales of other exportable products. Correa, who is accompanied by a large delegation of ministers and other officials, said there are big projects possible and the two economies are complementary. hr dig jhb mf PL-20 *** In China, Correa Defends Socialism Beijing, Nov 21 (Prensa Latina) Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa criticized in this capital Wednesday the effects of neoliberalism in his country, and defended the 21st century socialism projects getting ahead in the region. The statesman, on a state visit to China, delivered a magisterial lecture today"s afternoon at the auditorium of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), entitled bTowards the 21 Century Socialism.b Correa stated that neoliberal policies, formulated by the so-called Washington agreement, have been applied in Latin America since the late 1980s with disastrous effects for economies and societies of the continent. Latin America is not the poorest region of the world like Africa is, but it is the most irregular, because some people live in absolute poverty, while others live better than in Switzerland, he said. Fundamental rights like education and health have been turned into goods, bases to create human talent destroyed and social cohesion shattered with the weakening of the central state. The speech to Chinese academics, professors, CASS researchers and Latin American ambassadors, was one of the main activities of today"s agenda, in addition to the opening ceremony of the Tourism and Trade Forum between the two countries. The Ecuadorian head of State met Tuesday with Chinese President Hu Jintao, and attended the signing of 14 bilateral accords and memorandums of understanding on oil, mining, railroads, tourism, health, agriculture and other sectors. hr iff jhb mf PL-4 *** Ecuador Leader Denies "Populism" Beijing, Nov 21 (Prensa Latina) Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on Wednesday repudiated populism accusations by some political sectors against the political movement he heads. "Neoliberals call populism anything they do not understand or do not want to understand," said Correa during a lecture at the auditorium of China's Social Sciences Academy. Correa sustained the Ecuadorian popular movement won with 70 percent of votes, in 21 of the 22 provinces, something which has not happened in decades. The president recalled neoliberals have said that continental development has been free of interference, but they forget the nearly 50 years blockade against Cuba or the coup and assassination attempt against Hugo Chavez en Venezuela. hr dig jhb mf PL-14 * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================