• A delegation of over 200 people and business associations, some 70 activities, over 1,000 business meetings, 15 seminars and eight lunches with investors are among the results of Chile Week China 2016.

The second version of Chile Week in China culminated with a series of sector-specific lunches focusing on investment promotion. InvestChile organized meetings in the cities of Guanzhou and Beijing with companies from the agribusiness sector, led by Rodrigo Contreras of the International Affairs Division of the Ministry of Agriculture; from the telecommunications sector, led by Undersecretary for Telecommunications Pedro Huichalaf; the energy sector, led by Economy Minister Luis Felipe Céspedes; and the mining sector, led by COCHILCO‘s Sergio Hernández and the director of InvestChile, Carlos Álvarez.

Álvarez spoke about the new services offered by InvestChile, pointing out that it has “Chinese personnel able to provide specific information about different sectors and help companies organize meetings with the main players of the industries they are interested in in Chile”.

“China is our principal trading partner and Chile is China’s second most important market in Latin America but, despite these good trading relations, Chinese foreign direct investment in Chile has been slow to follow and remains a challenge,” said Álvarez, adding that “according to the Central Bank, the stock of Chinese investment in Chile reaches only US$259 million, an amount at odds with the volume of trade between the two countries”.

Chile Week, which took place between August 28 and September 2, was attended by a delegation of more than 200 people including a former President of Chile, two ministers, an undersecretary, the directors of two government services, a regional governor and regional councilors as well as businesspeople, academics and students. During the event, the tenth anniversary of the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries was commemorated and a commitment was made to seek to continue strengthening bilateral relations.

“This second version of Chile Week in China has been a remarkable experience because we have had a great variety of meetings and seminars; if before we thought relations between our two countries were only commercial, this year we have diversified into infrastructure, energy, astronomy, tourism and investment opportunities in new areas like agriculture,” said former President Eduardo Frei in his role as Chile’s ambassador for Asia-Pacific.

In all, some 70 activities took place, including 15 seminars, eight sector-specific lunches and more than 1,000 business meetings. “Chile Week has become a platform not only for the private sector to show what it offers but also for making important announcements as in the case of the launch of the Business Development Platform of Chile’s National Agricultural Society in China,” noted Andrés Rebolledo, director general of DIRECON.

Source: DIRECON / InvestChile