Ecuador's Agriculture Minister Pablo Rizzo said on Friday that the European Union had offered to reduce current tariffs on Latin American banana imports.

Current EU tariffs imposed on banana imports from Latin America stand at 176 euros (222 U.S. dollars) per metric ton. The new offer, which Rizzo said he had not fully studied, might be a gradual reduction of 20 percent.

The offer, made by EU representative Jonas Storn to Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala and Costa Rica, reflects the EU's attempt to settle a new tariff without going to the World Trade Organization, he said.

Ecuador is the world's biggest exporter of bananas, earning 350 million U.S. dollars from exporting the fruit in the first quarter of 2006.

Source: Xinhua