The inaugural seminar was presided over by Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet who presented “Visa Tech”, an initiative that will facilitate the arrival of qualified personnel in the technology area.

The fourth International Investment Forum Chile began this morning in the presence of Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet; the Ministers of Economy, Economic Development and Tourism, Luis Felipe Céspedes, and Finance, Rodrigo Valdés; as well as the Director of InvestChile, Carlos Álvarez. The event is organized by the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency, InvestChile.

This year more than 60 executives from 43 companies and 15 countries are attending the event. Also participating are senior representatives from 26 companies already installed in Chile, all interested in investing in the country in high added-value sectors such as Solar Energy; Mining Services, Technology and Equipment; Food and functional ingredients; Sustainable Tourism and Global Services.

In her speech in the inaugural seminar, President Bachelet emphasized that “through InvestChile, the Economic Development Agency (Corfo), and ProChile’s international network, we are developing a proactive strategy to attract to the country investment that generate differences in the sectors where we need it. As part of this strategy, this year we will open three investment promotion offices abroad, in the United States, Japan and Germany.”

“Visa Tech” presentation

At the same time, the president took the opportunity to present “Visa Tech”, which will enable foreign professionals and technicians in the technology area to obtain a visa in a period of no more than 15 days. “It is aimed at owners, partners and investors of technology services companies located in Chile, technology professionals or technicians that come to Chile to work in technology companies and which have been awarded a Start-Up Chile program subsidy for technological services,” affirmed Bachelet about the initiative promoted by InvestChile and the Start-Up Chile program, together with the Interior Ministry’s Foreign Affairs Department.

Finally, the president called on businesspeople to “carry out in our country your company’s projects, researching, innovating, and taking advantage of our natural conditions, government support and the talent of our people to develop today the solutions of tomorrow.”

Economy Minister Luis Felipe Céspedes underlined that “we must be capable of attracting foreign investment to Chile and to achieve this we are developing different incentives to support investors. Today, the president announced Visa Tech, reaffirming our commitment to integration and promoting the technology sector.”

Meanwhile, the Director of InvestChile, Carlos Álvarez, referred to the new strategy for promoting Chile as a foreign investment destination. “We want to tell you how Chile is for foreign companies, with attributes that are embedded in the country, and that are different to the characteristics that we have been using in recent years. Today Chile has consolidated regional leadership; recognized talent, focused on the global market; an extremely dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem; it’s a business hub for all of Latin America; and it’s a leader in technological tendencies and clean energy. That is a story that speaks of the present and shows how we project our future development,” he said.

New website

In addition, InvestChile presented its new website, www.investchile.gob.cl, “which is aligned with best practices worldwide, and provides efficient and attractive access to information about the country,” said Álvarez.

The International Investment Forum’s inaugural seminar was also attended by Alicia Bárcena, the Executive Secretary of ECLAC; Raúl Katz, a business strategies researcher from Columbia University; as well as two panels of foreign companies installed in Chile and cases of globalized national talent, the latter headed by the Director of Start-Up Chile, Rocío Fonseca.

The event program, which ends tomorrow, also includes sectorial round tables with representatives from the public and private sectors, as well as more than 120 meetings with local counterparts.