30/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - Referring to his technical meetings with EU officials and representatives of Ecuador (particularly Pascal Lamy, European Trade Commissioner, and Heinz Moeller, Ecuador's Foreign Minister) concerning the EU/US compromise position on the future of the European Union's banana import regime, Anthony Gooch, one of the Commission's spokespersons, said on Monday that the agreement with the United States to put an end to the banana dispute existed and was not open to be changed in any way. He said that the main purpose of the current series of meetings was to provide clarifications to Ecuador concerning the status of being a "new arrival" in order to reassure the country (see EUROPE of 27 April, p. 14 and 12 April, p. 7).