Chinese government grants computers and agricultural equipment worth 20 million RMB to Ecuador through ETCA

On September 30 and October 16, 2002, representatives of the governments of China and Ecuador signed and countersigned Letters of Exchange, in which the former agreed to provide the latter equipment worth 20 million RMB (about 2.5 million USD). The grant would be funded through an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) signed on May 15, 2001.

The full amount provided in this ETCA was used for this project, with banking procedures handled by the Bank of China and Central Bank of Ecuador.

The grant specifically consisted of 120 agricultural tractors (Jimna brand, model JM404); 215 computers (Taiji brand, Pentium 4, including CPU monster, keyboard, mouse, and speakers); 215 printers (laser jet 1000); 23 yellow Steyr dump trucks (model 1291.260/K38/4X2NA); and one school bus (Golden Dragon brand, model XML61000A2, year 2002), to be transported to the port of Guayaquil.

Additionally, per the Letters of Exchange, two technical teams from China were to arrive in Ecuador to guide the installation and readjustment of the tractors (for a period of 30 days) and dump trucks (for a period of 20 days). The handover certificate was signed on July 13, 2003 in Quito. The beneficiaries of the project were varied.

All of the tractors went to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería). The school bus went to the Riobamba Higher Technological Institute (Instituto Superior Tecnológico Riobamba).

Of the computers and printers, 30 of each went to the Office of the Vice-presidency, 60 of each to the Ministry of Foreign Relations, 35 of each to the Ministry of Economy and Finances, 30 of each to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, Industrialization, and Fishing, 20 of each to the Rural Social Security (Seguro Social Campesino), 5 of each to the Ministry of Public Works, 5 of each to the Ministry of Education and Culture, 4 of each to the Ministry of Tourism, 5 of each to the Municipality of Cotacachi, 4 of each to the Municipality of Suscal (Cañar), 4 of each to the Municipality of Salitre (Guayas), 2 of each to the Municipality of Echeandia (Bolivar), 2 of each to the Municipality of Orellana (Orellana), 2 of each to the Prefecture of Sucumbios (Nueva Loja), 2 of each to the Municipality of El Chaco (Napo), 2 of each to the Municipality of Tena (Napo), 2 of each to the Municipality of Nabon (Azuay), and 1 of each to the Santísmo Sacramento School (Imbabura).

Of the dump trucks, 4 went to Empresa Emaseo, 1 to the Provincial Council of Carchi, 1 to the Provincial Council of Imbabura, 1 to the Provincial Council of Napo, and 1 to each of the following Municipalities: Napo, Zamora, Esmeraldas, Portovelo (El Oro), Morona Macas, Pelileo (Tungurahua), Daule, Marcelino Mariduena (Guayas), Loja, Puyango (Loja), Atahualpa (El Oro), Cañar, Tosagua (Manabi), Orellana, Guano (Chimborazo), and Milagro.