Ecuador's banana sanctions against EU

The World Trade Organisation has allowed Ecuador to impose retaliatory sanctions worth two-hundred-million dollars against the European Union, in a long-running dispute over the banana trade.

The sanctions cover products ranging from consumer goods to intellectual property.

The WTO has repeatedly ruled that the EU discriminates in favour of banana producers which are former European colonies.

A BBC correspondent in Geneva says Equador is the first developing country to be granted the right to impose sanctions in a global trade dispute.

But it would have preferred a compensation deal to give it better access to the EU banana market.

Ecuador is the world's largest banana exporter. Last year the United States imposed almost two-hundred million dollars of sanctions on the EU in the same dispute.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service