The main objective is to develop joint projects and seek funding for the establishment of a cocoa research laboratory in the city of Quevedo.

The agreement was signed by Eduardo Díaz Ocampo, rector of UTEQ, and Frans Ríos, representative of Prodel in a meeting held on 26 April in the rector's hall of the Alma Mater of Quevedo, with the presence of research professors who will be the support to carry out innovative projects in terms of cocoa production at the national level.

The first university authority said that these partnerships are important to implement research projects of this magnitude and that the next step is to run it to see the results

For his part, Ríos said that South America is the future of the cocoa industries, and Ecuador must be the one to lead this process. We must have the slogan of being the first exporters of cocoa in the world and with this alliance the province of Los Rios can become the most important research centre in the world on cocoa (The golden seed).