Vice President of Ecuador heads a discussion at the UDA

On Friday 5 in July, at the Hernán Malo Library, a conversation was held on the National Agreement for Ecuador 2030 with the participation of Otto Sonnenholzner, Vice President of Ecuador, who spoke with three students from the Faculty of Legal Sciences and representatives of UDAFE (Student Federation of the University of Azuay).

The event was attended by Francisco Salgado, Rector of the University of Azuay; Iván Granda, Anti-Corruption Secretary, and Xavier Martínez, Governor of Azuay.

The National Agreement for Ecuador is a space in which proposals are generated to establish the commitments that the country needs. It is a multi-sectoral pact in which all actors of civil society join efforts to reach national consensus that will allow the nation's sustainability and governability.

Domenica Ayala, a student at the Law School, was the first to intervene with the theme: Participation and democracy from youth. Domenica stressed that young people are not aware of the interministerial agreement that was created in order to reduce the remuneration of rotating medical interns.

To which the Vice President replied: "This agreement was worked with students from public universities because there was an increase in students. The only two options were to postpone the race for two years or be willing to receive less compensation. "

Juan Nicolás Alvarado, President of the Faculty of Legal Sciences, spoke about the realization of rights. Alvarado commented that - despite the fact that education is an inexcusable right for all people - many students are left out due to the admissions process.

For his part, Sonnenholzner said that citizens have the right to education, but that the University is not for everyone. He commented that in Ecuador there are professions that do not need a third level degree.

The third to intervene was Nicole Cabrera, a student at the School of International Studies, who spoke with the Vice President about young people in the world. Cabera explained that the commercial opening towards other countries is something positive for the economy and that Ecuador should sign the Alliance with the Pacific.

“The ambassador has to be the best salesman in the country. Let's not let politicking affect international relations. Alliances can be business for politicians in electoral terms and I tried to make decisions without thinking about the elections, because that does not interest me, ”the Vice President replied.

The next university students to intervene were Francisco Jaramillo, a law student, and Mateo González, President of UDAFE. Jaramillo said that unemployed 4 10 are young and that begging is increasing, while Gonzalez said about the lack of entrepreneurship.

According to the Vice President's statements, youth do have a job, but in informal jobs. He also added that "the State ceased to be the head of the economy and that the private company should be in charge of generating entrepreneurship".

As a final point, Pía Bravo - president of the Sports Association of the University of Azuay (ADEUDA) - chatted with the Vice President of Ecuador about sports and recreation. Sonnenholzner argued that, on these issues, citizens tend to take President Lenin Moreno's words out of context.