This trade agreement conditions Ecuador's integration into the Pacific Alliance, a free trade bloc that brings together Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru.
By being part of this alliance, Quito would have access to several Asian markets.
But the talks are stuck with Mexico: Ecuador had warned in December that it would be "impossible" to sign a free trade agreement with Mexico if the customs duties on shrimps and bananas, the main export products of the countries after oil, were not lifted.
However, Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador told his Ecuadorian counterpart that "national banana and shrimp producers" did not want to face Ecuadorian competition.
"The interest of Ecuador's integration into the Pacific Alliance was to have access to Asian markets", underlined Guillermo Lasso, President of Ecuador, specifying that his country was establishing trade links with this region of its side.
Beijing and Quito recently negotiated for a free trade agreement which should be signed within the next four months.
Guillermo Lasso has also started negotiations with South Korea, Canada, Costa Rica and the United States, one of his main trading partners.
Between January and October 2022, total sales of bananas reached $2.705 billion, and those of shellfish, $6.274 billion, according to Ecuador's central bank.
© 2023 AFP