ASSEMBLY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY JOINT RESOLUTION No. 221

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  JUNE 16, 2025

      The Assembly State and Local Government Committee reports favorably Assembly Joint Resolution No. 221.

This joint resolution designates August 10 of each year as Ecuador Day.

     On May 24, 1822, after a 13-year war, Ecuador assured its independence from Spain with the decisive victory of the Battle of Pichincha.  The United States recognized the independence of Ecuador on June 18, 1822 and recognized Ecuador as a separate state in 1832.  The two countries began their diplomatic relationship in 1838 by signing a treaty of peace and the United States sent its first resident diplomatic agent to Quito in 1848.  Today, the United States is one of Ecuador’s principal trading partners. 

     In May 2024, Daniel Noboa, the President of the Republic of Ecuador, held an official gathering at New Jersey City University as part of his first official visit to the United States.  During his visit, President Noboa witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between New Jersey City University and el Grupo Latinoamericano de Cónsules en New Jersey. 

     Additionally, New Jersey is home to the second-largest community of Ecuadorian immigrants in the United States with 237,532 residents, comprising almost three percent of the State’s population.  Essex County and Hudson County claim the second and third largest Ecuadorian immigrant population by county in the United States, respectively.

     Ecuador is known as one of the most environmentally diverse countries in the world, and has made notable contributions to the environmental sciences, including research that has led to the establishment of basic theories of modern geography, ecology, and evolutionary biology.  Overall, Ecuador has served as an important international partner for the United States, as well as New Jersey, by means of trade and academic and cultural exchanges.