MEXICO, August 13 (RIA Novosti) - Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, said his country is not going to ask for anyone’s permission to supply food to Russia, the Andes Press Agency (APA) reports.
“We don’t need anyone’s permission to sell food products to friendly countries: as far as we know, Latin America is not a part of the European Union,” Correa said as quoted by the APA.
On Monday, the Spanish El Pais newspaper wrote that the European Union is unhappy with Latin American intentions to supply Russia with the food products that now it refuses to import from Europe.
“Let us wait for an official complaint [from the European Union] and we will answer it,” Correa proposed.
Earlier, Ecuador’s minister of foreign trade, Francisco Rivadeneira, said the Ecuadorian government is currently assessing the possibility of increasing food exports to Russia and creating a list of products that could see increased provisions to Russia in the short- or medium-term.
On August 7, Russia imposed a ban on food imports from the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia and Norway. The decision came in response to the western sanctions imposed on Russia over its alleged involvement in the independence movement in Ukraine.
Last week, the head of Russian agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, Sergei Dankvert, discussed the possibility of increasing the Ecuadorian food supplies to Russia with current Ecuadorian Ambassador to Russia Patricio Alberto Chavez Zavala.
