The Ecuadorean Foreign Ministry announced Monday that it is ready to ask the World Trade Organization (WTO) to intervene in a dispute with the European Union over a tariff on bananas set to go into effect in January 2006. Ecuador - the world's main banana exporter with 24 per cent of the world market and the main outside provider of bananas to Europe - has called for the Europe Union to impose no tariff at all and continue with the current system of quotas and licenses. Last week, Ecuador hosted a summit of seven Latin American growers that issued a statement rejecting the tariff of 230 euros (300 dollars) per ton of bananas but did not offer a counterproposal because of differences of opinion among the countries attending. Some of the nations were willing to accept a tariff of 75 euros per metric ton of bananas. The Latin American growers were set to meet again next week in Colombia to try to forge a common stance on the tariff. In total, Latin American producers account for about 65 per cent of world trade in bananas.
