On Thursday, June 23, Guayaquil will become the world’s banana center for the first time. International experts and potential foreign investors looking to do business with Ecuadorian manufacturers and exporters have already prepared their hotel and flight reservations. They will be a part of Ecuador and the World International Banana Conventionwho organizes Banana Exporters Association (Asoexpla).

However, the national strike, which has entered its second week, has caused the event to be postponed to September 8 and 9, which is detrimental to Asoexpla, regrettably. Eduardo Manrique, executive director of the union.

With its first world convention and an international book, the Ecuadorian plantain is seeking the same recognition as bananas

Even though he didn’t have an exact figure for the damage yet, he calculated that it couldn’t be less than $50,000, only in the cancellation of reservations and flights, fees and penalties from suppliers, brochures that must be repeated, among other things a small fee.

However, for Manrique it is not much, because the most worrying is the loss of business opportunities and credibility.

“There have been talks, relationships have been established with small producers, with buyers, with the industrial sector, these are events that move the economy, that promote our products, so as a country it’s not just the fact of canceling the event and it costing roughly $50,000, it’s a fact that credibility this as a country is a bit lost,” laments Manrique, who assured that the conference was planned five months in advance.

Asoexpla is just one of those events or business forums that had to be rescheduled due to social protests, which according to Holbach Muñeton, president of the Federation of Chambers of Tourism of Ecuador and vice president of the Ecuadorian Business Committee (CEE)is a loss for this segment not less than $2.5 million at the national level (Guayaquil and Quito).

“We must also add up lost opportunity costs, future lost events, lost reserves, today and in the future,” the leader warned.

It Export and Investment Promotion Company (Corpei)which is part of organizing the Asoexpla event, also had to reschedule other events due to the protest action.

María Alejandra Granja, Director of Corporate Communications, indicated that the +ECI project workshop was rescheduled: Ecuador’s More Inclusive Circular, which was set to start this Thursday in Quito.

“We were going to start today in Quito, but we decided to start in Guayaquil. The following week we went, so far, to Manta, but it’s not 100% confirmed yet. The same for the workshops in Cuenca and finally in Quito; this is the second fortnight of July”, said the executive, explaining that the workshop was conducted face-to-face and studied the basic aspects of the circular economy and to apply for the project.

Every day it stops, Ecuador’s tourism loses from $2 million to $5 million

Meanwhile, Accredited Eurochambers in Ecuador and DEU election They also decided to postpone four conferences to mark the five years of implementation of the trade agreement between the European Union and Ecuador, scheduled for June 21 in Quito, Guayaquil, Manta and Cuenca, and rescheduled for September.

This “in light of the current situation in the country and given that our priority is to safeguard the safety and well-being of our guests,” according to Charles-Michel Geurts, EU Ambassador to Ecuador.

The public sector has also been forced to move its event dates.

This is the case Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries, who suspended the tenth edition of macro business round scheduled for June 29 and 30 in Guayaquil and rescheduled for September 13 and 14.

Around 1,050 business meetings are planned to be held at the event in person, with the participation of 350 exporting companies from Ecuador, 125 international buyers from Asian, European Union, UK and American markets.

The newspaper EL UNIVERSO consults with Deputy Ministry of Export and Investment Promotion about expectations for the new date of the event. The entity replied that for September they expect more participants than scheduled for June.

“Initially there was a full occupancy of 70% due to the biosecurity measures required by the hotel, as this was planned from the beginning of the year; However, once we are vaccinated and capacity increases, we can invite more exporters and enter more sectors into the macro round,” explained the Deputy Minister of Transportation, who acknowledged that there are fines for changing the date in the case of buyers, but not in all cases.

“The economic impact is definitely there, but marginal based on business expectations set as the target in two days, more than $120 million”, indicates the entity, which adds that the service provider has understood the current situation and agreed to a new date.

In addition, other state institutions must also stop face-to-face activities to the public, such as the Regional Office for Supervisory Companies, Securities and Insurance.

Meanwhile, there are events that have not been stopped or rescheduled, such as the 133rd anniversary of the Guayaquil Chamber of Commerce taking place this Thursday evening at the city’s Convention Center.

Ricardo Baquerizo, president of Expoplaza, ensuring that they don’t have to postpone any events this week and the agenda for the next event stays smooth. “We don’t want to suspend events and we want that to be a message not to stop working.” (YO)