Today is the National Day of Ecuador.

Ecuador is situated in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, by Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean on the west. The country also includes the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific, about 965 kilometers west of the mainland. Ecuador straddles the equator, from which it takes its name. Its capital city is Quito; its largest city is Guayaquil.

About three hundred years of Spanish colonization, Quito was a city of around ten thousand inhabitants when, on August 10, 1809, the first call for independence from Spain in Latin America (“Primer Grito de la Independencia’’) was made there. It was also near Quito, at the Battle of Pichincha in 1822 that Ecuador, under the leadership of Antonio José de Sucre, joined Simón Bolívar’s Republic of Gran Colombia. It became a separate republic in 1830.

Ecuador has substantial petroleum resources and rich agricultural area. Because the country exports primary products such as oil, bananas, flowers, and shrimp, fluctuations in world market prices can have a substantial domestic impact. Industry is largely oriented to servicing the domestic market, and some exports to the Andean Common market.

We congratulate the people and government of Ecuador led by H.E., President Rafael Correa, and its Consulate in the Philippines, headed by Consul Oscar Hilado, on the occasion of their National Day. We wish them success in all their endeavors.