© Reuters. President of Ecuador solemnizes mining investments for about 416 million
Quito, Nov 19 (.) .- The Ecuadorian President, Guillermo Lasso, on Friday solemnized the signing of mining agreements for 470 million dollars (about 416.4 million euros), within the framework of the “Ecuador Open for Business 2021” , a forum that presented a portfolio to attract private resources for 30,000 million.
Lasso, together with his Ministers of Production, Julio José Prado, and of Energy, Juan Carlos Bermeo, signed the investment commitments with the firm “Solgold Ecuador SA”, for the development of an exploration project in and in the Andean province of Imbabura (north).
Said agreement, with a ten-year term, seeks to explore gold and copper in the Cascabel mining concession, with an investment of 430 million dollars.
In addition, a six-year investment contract was signed with the company “Lumina-Odin Mining del Ecuador SA” to carry out a first stage of exploration for gold and copper, in the areas known as Cangrejos, Cangrejos 20, Canarias and Cacique, in the municipality of Santa Rosa, in the coastal province of El Oro, on the border with Peru.
“I thank the investors for their confidence in Ecuador, I congratulate them and wish them many successes,” said the Ecuadorian president after assuring that these investment commitments will generate employment and promote the development of the country.
He said that his is “an investment-friendly government” and that the attraction of capital is the objective of the “Ecuador Open for Business 2021”, lasting two days and which ended this Friday.
To promote an environment conducive to investment, the Ecuadorian president also signed two executive decrees this Friday with which he seeks to attract capital and promote so-called public-private alliances.
One of these decrees establishes the creation of the “National System of Attraction and Facilitation of Investments (Snafi)” and the “Single Window of Investments (VUI)”, with the aim of attracting national and foreign investments and promoting simplification, facilitation and optimization investment processes.
The Vice Minister of Exports and Investments, Lorena Konanz, said on her side that this decree will consolidate Ecuador as a leading country in attracting capital.
The VUI “improves logistics, transparency is achieved in processes, time and cost savings, greater legal certainty and permanent attention” to the investor, he said.
“One of the main functions as President is to act as a facilitator and I am here to fight against bureaucratic processes and facilitate local and international investment,” said President Lasso, reinforcing the idea of the VUI.
The president also signed another decree that creates the Technical Secretariat for Public-Private Associations and Delegated Management, an entity attached to the Presidency, endowed with administrative and financial autonomy.
Said Secretariat will coordinate actions between different institutions to “attract, facilitate, specify and maintain private investments, associated with the generation of infrastructure and provision of public services through the different modalities of delegated management.”
“We have decided to create the Secretariat so that you, investors, have an interlocutor with the Government and facilitate the processes,” Lasso remarked.
In the investment forum, the Ecuadorian Government presented the country as a reliable destination for foreign investment before a thousand businessmen from more than 50 countries, and 2,000 virtual followers.
