Political relations between Ecuador and Germany go back a long way. The most important issues in the two countries’ relations are development cooperation, environmental policy, trade and investment as well as the dual system of vocational training.

Within the European Union, Germany is one of Ecuador’s most important trading partners, ranking fourth among the 27 member states. Germany exported goods worth 556.43 million euro to Ecuador in 2022 and imported Ecuadorian goods worth 289.94 million euro (source: European Commission, EU trade statistics).

Since 1977, Quito has been home to a German-Ecuadorian Chamber of Industry and Commerce. In addition to its Embassy, Ecuador maintains an Institute for Export and Investment Promotion (PRO ECUADOR) in Germany and has had a Consulate General in Hamburg since 1993. The trade agreement with the European Union, which entered into force on 1 January 2017, injected considerable momentum into bilateral economic relations.

Germany is one of Ecuador’s largest bilateral donors in the sphere of development cooperation. The most recent bilateral intergovernmental negotiations on development cooperation were held in Quito in October 2022. Support for projects amounting to 102.5 million euro was pledged. Priorities of the cooperation between Ecuador and Germany include good governance, displacement and migration, biodiversity, forest conservation and sustainable urban development.

The main cultural exchange intermediaries between Germany and Ecuador are the Humboldt-Gesellschaft/Goethe-Zentrum in Quito, the German-Ecuadorian Cultural Centre in Guayaquil, and the German schools in Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca, as well as, to an increasing extent, the German Language Certificate School in Samborondón.

Cooperation in higher education is based primarily around project funding from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), for instance in the area of strategic development goals partnerships between German and Ecuadorian universities. The number of students receiving individual funding is increasing, though it is still small. In 2023, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation supported a Humboldt-Kolleg entitled “The Challenges to Diversity. Endangered Languages and Varieties: Towards Documentation-Revitalization Processes with Social Justice”.

Information about German development cooperation with Ecuador can be found on the website of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.