President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa assured on Monday that “Mexicans remain happy with the trade relationship” with the Andean country, despite diplomatic relations having been severed since April last year following a police raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito to arrest Jorge Glas, former vice president Rafael Correa.

He stated this in an interview with the magazine Radio Sucrein which he noted that “Mexico exports about $800 million to Ecuador. and Ecuador doesn’t export even 300 million.”

“We have a trade deficit with Mexico of almost $600 million. He is one of our worst partners, (Ecuador) is one of the best for them,” he said.

The South American ruler assured that They had no recent contact with Mexico. when asked about his relationship with the country’s president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, who will replace Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who severed diplomatic relations with Ecuador.

The Ecuadorian authorities’ raid on the Mexican embassy came at the height of a diplomatic crisis between the two countries, with the Lopez Obrador government provided shelter to Glasfor whom there was already a court order for arrest.

Glas, who served as vice president to Rafael Correa (2007-2017) and at the start of Lenin Moreno’s term (2017-2021), denies the charges against him and He declares himself a politically persecuted person.

The former vice president had joined the diplomatic headquarters of Mexico on December 17, 2023. and three days later he sought asylum. The prosecutor’s office subsequently opened a criminal case against him on charges of embezzlement (misappropriation of public funds) during reconstruction work following the devastating 2016 earthquake.

Voice, who had already been in prison for almost five years, must serve eight years in prison for two corruption charges (bribery and unlawful association), issued in 2017 and 2020 respectively.

Mexico and Ecuador filed a counterclaim against each other even before International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the events that took place on April 5, with mutual accusations of violating international conventions and norms.