CSO hails breakthrough as significant opportunity to diversify exports, following four-year negotiation process
Italy has been granted permission to export its pears to Ecuador, after the South America country’s phytosanitary authority Agrocalidad published an officially agreed working protocol.
The news brings to a close a negotiation process which began in 2021 and culminated, in September 2025, with the visit to Italy of two Ecuadorian inspectors.
Organised by CSO Italy, that visit gave the inspectors a chance to verify compliance with the protocol’s conditions in orchards and packhouses.
According to Simona Rubbi, the agency’s head of international relations, it’s a breakthrough founded on collaboration between companies, the Emilia-Romagna Region’s Phytosanitary Service, and the Ministry of Agriculture.
And crucially it’s one that opens new commercial opportunities for Italian pears outside of Europe.
“Ecuador can represent an alternative destination for diversifying markets and addressing the challenges associated with the current geopolitical situation,” she says. “Furthermore, transit times are short, which represents another advantage.”
To send their pears to Ecuador, exporters must verify compliance with the protocol’s requirements and prepare a list of orchards and facilities involved.
As Rubbi explains, CSO Italy will collect and process those lists and provide them to ministry officials, who will then forward them to the Ecuadorian authorities for approval.
