Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa told press this week that the governments of Ecuador and Venezuela are working to form a joint venture for a steel-supplying relationship, aimed at managing the high global steel prices.
"We would like to enter into a strategic alliance to be supplied steel at preferential prices and be able to control the cost," he said in a radio interview.
President Correa said that talks are being held with Venezuela to see in which ways the two countries can help each other as regards steel costs. "They produce steel and we here have public iron factories, such as Andec, which belongs to the armed forces," he explained.