Ecuador's Economy and Finance Minister Juan Carlos Vega speaks with Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa during an event to announce the external debt swap for Amazon conservation, at the Jardin Botanico in Quito, on December 17, 2024. Ecuador has swapped 1.527 billion dollars of its foreign debt for nature, a mechanism to reduce its liabilities and free up more than 460 million dollars to be used to protect the Ecuadorean Amazon rainforest, Economy and Finance Minister Juan Carlos Vega announced. (Photo by Galo Paguay / AFP) (Photo by GALO PAGUAY/AFP via Getty Images)