Ecuador and China signed on Wednesday in Quito the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement, through which the Asian giant will donate twenty-eight million dollars to the Andean country «to strengthen state policies for economic and social reactivation», reported the Ecuadorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These resources will be aimed especially at the recovery of areas in the Andean provinces of Imbabura and Pichincha that were affected by indigenous protests against the increase in diesel that lasted a month and ended last week. A donation that «will foster innovation, productivity and the sustainable insertion of entrepreneurial sectors into the national economy», the Foreign Ministry noted in a statement. President Daniel Noboa had already announced the day before — during a radio interview — that China would donate equipment worth seventeen million dollars for the reactivation of those areas, where protests concentrated that left two people dead from gunshot wounds and nearly three hundred injured, according to data from human rights organizations. The remaining eleven million dollars will be distributed in a second stage, «in accordance with the joint definition that both governments make regarding new cooperation initiatives that contribute to the sustainable development of Ecuador», specified the Ecuadorian ministry. The Ecuadorian Government indicated that the agreement is a reflection of «the spirit of international cooperation based on mutual respect and co-responsibility» and that it is also framed «within a broader strategic collaboration», which includes Ecuador's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing's ambitious global infrastructure and connectivity project to which Ecuador formally adhered in 2018. In addition, the agreement signed this Wednesday provides for strengthening cooperation in the environmental, technological, and educational fields. For the Ecuadorian Government, the signing of this agreement «marks the beginning of a new stage of friendship, solidarity, and long-term cooperation between both nations».
