Presentation by Senior Political Adviser

We had a special guest speaker join our Global Consulting Practicum class via meet google Mr. Andrés Fiallo is the Senior Political Adviser to the President of the United Nations General Assembly. He begins the presentation with thanking us for the support we will be providing to several businesses and organizations in his home country of Ecuador. Mr. Fiallo presentation covered several areas first, Ecuadorean history and its rich diversity of the people and land, second, he shared with us the pollical layout and governmental structure, third, the country’s GDP, exports and imports, finally what he sees for Ecuador’s future.

I had no idea that although Ecuador’s land area is smaller than the state of Arizona, it outpaces the entire United States when it comes to biodiversity. The country of Ecuador spans the Andes-Amazon region, which includes the Galápagos’ archipelago. Mr. Fiallo also shared some interesting fact about the regent.

Ecuador’s Administrative division breaks down to 24 provinces (provincias) these provinces are governed by the elected Prefect with the executive chosen Governor. The executive branch Chief of state President and Vice-President are elected, and the executive branch cabinet are appointed by the president. The legislative body of Congress is elected by multi-party elections. The Judiciary Council oversees the judicial branch, and the justices are selected by a commission compressed of two delegates from the Executive, legislative, and transparency branches. Mr. Fiallo pointed out that this government is commented to addressing the needs of indigenous people, the disabled, and gender equality. It aspires to bring the government closer to its people.

The presentation continued with a breakdown of Ecuador’s commodity’s and how it is a primary source of their GDP, exporting petroleum, bananas, crustacean, and flowers while much of their importing is refined petroleum, coal tar oils, and cars. Ecuador’s decision to convert to the dollar in 1998 has kept it currency stable and from inflation but has made it difficult to compete with neighboring Latin American countries. He also pointed out that Ecuador must address their high public debt. He expressed concern that by cutting the subsidies serving the most vulnerable may have a negative and lasting effect on his fellow countryman. Mr. Fiallo shares a realistic yet promising outlook for Ecuador. In closing, he again thanked us, and graciously answered several questions asked by the class. I would like to thank Mr. Fiallo for taking the time to speak to us. I feel that this talk planted the seed of dialogue between our two peoples. We learned so much about the country and the people of Ecuador.