The President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, received this Monday the executive director of the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Scott Nathan. Both talked about environmental protection projects, among other issues.
The US and Ecuador meet to expand environmental projects
Posted On 03 Aug 2023
This was confirmed by the Presidency of Ecuador, in a Twitter message. He also indicated that among the objectives of the meeting there is a conversation about “the challenges of the multilateral financing system to face adverse situations such as the ‘El Niño’ phenomenon.”
At the meeting, which was held at the Presidential Palace in the historic center of Quito, the possibility of “expanding cooperation with Ecuador in new environmental protection projects” was also discussed.
The Ecuadorian government has also expressed its gratitude for the financial guarantee that the DFC gave to Ecuador “to obtain the guarantee of political stability, with which the debt-for-nature swap was achieved, which will allow savings of some 1,600 million dollars.”
He referred to a conversion operation of a tranche of the country’s foreign debt for environmental projects in the Galapagos Islands. What started from a new credit issued by Credit Suisse.
Said loan has a guarantee from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and political risk insurance from the International Development Finance Corporation of the United States.
Ecuador situation
The visit came at a time when Lasso is close to handing over power to a successor. This will arise from extraordinary presidential and legislative elections that will take place on August 20.
These elections respond to a constitutional procedure known as “cross death” invoked last May by President Lasso. With that he dissolved Parliament and called early elections.
The authorities that are designated in these elections will complete the 2021-2025 period. The same that corresponded to Lasso, but that he was cut by the president when announcing the “cross death.”
This constitutional shortcut was raised at a time when the ruler was undergoing a political trial of censorship in the National Assembly. The same that he was from the opposition majority and where he was accused of alleged embezzlement, charges that he has emphatically denied.
