The Ambassador of Italy to Ecuador, Giovanni Davoli, gave a lectio magistralis on the topic of the 125th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries at the Indo-American University in the city of Ambato, in the centre of the South American nation.
Speaking to an audience of political science and law students, in the presence of the university's academic leadership, the ambassador recalled the various stages in the relationship between Italy and Ecuador. From the rupture of diplomatic relations in 1870 ordered by the then President of Ecuador, Garcia Moreno, in protest at the seizure of Rome, through the Friendship Treaty of 1900, which at the instigation of the liberal Ecuadorian governments of the time subsequently led to the establishment of full diplomatic relations and the opening of embassies in Rome and Quito.
Davoli pointed out how, thanks to the 2017 free trade treaty, the European Union is now Ecuador's main trading partner and Italy the leading exporter to Ecuador among European countries, worth more than $700 million, according to still partial figures for 2024.
Today, said the Ambassador, Italy, through its 'legal diplomacy' programmes, is one of Ecuador's main allies in the fight against transnational organised crime.
According to UN data, Davoli recalled, over 70% of the world's cocaine transits through Ecuadorian ports. A figure that underlines how what happens in the South American country has consequences in Italy and Europe and how it is necessary to fight this battle together.
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