Posts Tagged ‘Quito’
Written by admin on 30 January 2010
Quito, Jan 30 (IANS/EFE) Scientists have warned of a difficult task ahead in the conservation of Ecuador’s fragile Galapagos Islands ecosystem, home to species nowhere else found in the world.
Gabriel Lopez, executive director of the Charles Darwin Foundation, Friday released a report highlighting the challenges that lie ahaed in the conservation of the fragile Galapagos ecosystem.
The report, marking the 50th anniversary of the organisation, contained details of the activities undertaken to protect the ecosystem by the foundation in 2009 and an outlook for 2010.
Lopez said the foundation this year plans to continue with three ‘emblematic’ projects launched in 2009 – measuring the ‘human footprint’ on the archipelago, studying the consequences of climate change and the ‘comprehensive’ restoration of Floreana Island in southern part of the archipelago.
The Ecuadorian islands will act as ‘an ideal laboratory’ for compiling ‘highly trustworthy’ data on the effects of the El Nino phenomenon, he said.
Lopez said the data gathered by scientists show ‘it is almost certain El Nino events will be more frequent, more intense’ and could have a ‘devastating impact on the island’s endemic species like sea lions and marine iguanas’.
He added that in the next few months, the foundation will organise a series of workshops and forums on sustainable development and scientists from different countries will participate.
‘We should be proud of our work in 2009, but now the foundation and the Galapagos Islands face the most challenging days of their history,’ he said.
The Galapagos Islands owe their name to the large tortoises that live there. Its rich biodiversity helped British scientist Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution and natural selection of species. The archipelago is located about 1,000 km west of the continental coast of Ecuador.
Tags: Quito
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Written by admin on 13 January 2010
Quito, Jan 13 (IANS/EFE) Ecuador and China have signed a memorandum of understanding on a loan from Beijing to Quito to finance a $2 billion hydroelectric dam in the South American nation, the official Andes news agency said.
Signed in Beijing by Ecuadorian Finance Minister Maria Elsa Viteri and directors of China’s Export-Import Bank, the memorandum marks the end of a sometimes-difficult phase of the ongoing talks.
‘We concluded the round of negotiations and statements of understanding were signed that take notice of the advances which have been achieved,’ Viteri told Andes Tuesday from China.
She characterised those advances as ‘important’.
‘The negotiation is not finished, but there is progress,’ the finance minister said, suggesting that the deal for the loan could be finalised in the near future.
Viteri’s visit to China came amid heightened expectations after Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa publicly complained that Quito felt ‘mistreated’ in the talks with Beijing.
Assuming success in the negotiations, the Chinese loan will underwrite 85 percent of the Coca-Codo-Sinclaire hydroelectric dam in the Amazon region, which is to be the largest facility of its type in Ecuador.
The power plant will have the capacity to generate 1,500 MW of electricity, allowing it to meet about 70 percent of domestic power demand in the Andean nation.
Quito has designated the Chinese firm Sinohydro as the chief contractor on the project.
Tags: Quito
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Written by admin on 11 January 2010
Quito, Jan 11 (IANS/EFE) A 22-year-old woman suffering from hypertension has given birth to quadruplets in Ecuador, an official said.
Isidro Ayora Maternity Hospital director Humberto Navas said Sunday that Digna Moran had to undergo the C-section when her blood pressure rose to a high level. The procedure was done Saturday.
Three of the babies, who were conceived naturally, weighed 1,500 grams at birth and the fourth weighed 1,300 grams.
The quadruplets are ‘in good condition’, but they are in the intensive care unit, Navas said.
Moran and the quadruplets’ father, Edgar Godos, 25, are from Loja, a province in southern Ecuador.
Tags: Quito
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Written by admin on 07 January 2010
Quito, Jan 7 – Six soldiers were killed when the Ecuadorian military plane they were travelling in crashed, according to army sources.
The crash, which occurred Wednesday at around 130 km southeast of Quito, was the third air mishap in three months in the country, a Xinhua report said.
The previous two crashes did not cause any casualties.
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Written by admin on 02 December 2009
Quito, Dec 2 (EFE) Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has said that during the course of negotiations with China to obtain financing for a hydroelectric dam, they ‘sometimes feel ill-treated’.
Ecuador is negotiating with China for a loan to finance 85 percent the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric dam but Correa says, ‘Regrettably, the negotiations have been very tough.’
‘Sometimes we feel ill-treated by China, not even the International Monetary Fund treats us like this,’ he said at a meeting with reporters upon his return to Ecuador after attending the Ibero-American Summit in Estoril, Portugal.
Correa said he wanted the talks for the loan to ‘finish up quickly’ but said that if they do not bear fruit, Ecuador ‘will know how to find the funds to finance Coca Codo’.
Correa, a US-trained economist, said the Chinese representatives asked in the talks that Ecuador list ‘the inventory of assets’ that it will put up ‘as a guarantee’ for the loan and that ‘the Central Bank put up its assets as a guarantee’, which he called ‘outrageous things that are really humiliating for the country’.
Thus, he asked for an answer as to whether the two countries ‘are working as friendly countries in mutual cooperation or (as) rivals to make the pertinent decisions, because those funds can be obtained from another source (by) changing Ecuador’s international policy’.
Building the hydroelectric centre is considered to be the largest infrastructure project in Ecuador’s history and it is predicted to require an investment of about $2 billion, 85 percent of which is supposed to come in the form of a loan from China’s Export-Import Bank.
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Written by admin on 25 November 2009
Quito, Nov 25 (EFE) Ecuador is to receive $51.2 million in loans from China under bilateral economic accords signed here at a ceremony attended by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.
Part of the credit lines will finance the purchase of four new planes for the Ecuadorian air force, Correa’s office said on the presidential web page Tuesday.
‘This demonstrates that relations between China and Ecuador are excellent,’ Correa said during the signing, describing the projects in which Beijing is investing as ‘completely secure and profitable’.
He praised China for ‘placing its resources in the development of the country (Ecuador) instead of investing them in US Treasury Bills,’ adding, ‘that way they will recover their investment and help us develop.’
The president also highlighted ‘the great support’ received from China for the planned Coca Codo-Sinclair hydroelectric complex in Ecuador’s Amazon region.
The chief contractor on the nearly $2 billion project is the Chinese firm Sinohydro and 85 percent of the financing is to come from China’s Export-Import Bank, though the terms of the loan remain to be worked out.
Also present for Tuesday’s ceremony was Jia Qinglin, a member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo currently on a tour of Latin America, who hailed a 50 percent growth in bilateral trade from 2007 to 2008, when exchanges between China and Ecuador totaled $2.4 billion.
Separately, Jia joined Ecuadorian Vice President Lenin Moreno to inaugurate a gathering of more than 150 business leaders from their respective nations.
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