Cristián Rodríguez visited the offices of China Railway Construction Corporation, Joyvio, Didi, Mobike and Energy China.

Ahead of President Sebastián Piñera’s visit to China, the director of InvestChile, Cristián Rodríguez has been there since Monday, seeking to attract more and better foreign investment in Chile through a packed agenda of promotional activities, including meetings with energy, technology, food and construction companies.

In the case of the construction sector, Rodríguez had a meeting today with senior executives of China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), led by its chairman, Wang Wenzhong. The company, which made its formal debut in Chile last year, highlighted its interest in continuing to invest in different areas of the Chilean economy, giving as an example the astronomical observation project on which it is working together with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Chile’s Atacama Region.

“The company expressed interest in the concessions portfolio worth US$14,000 million, noting that the amounts of the projects it includes are in line with its capabilities. They also highlighted Chile’s favorable investment climate and stability as supporting their entry into the country,” reported the director of InvestChile.

Rodríguez’s next meeting was with Joyvio and its managing director, Jie Tang. This year, Joyvio will materialize its acquisition of the Australis salmon farming company in a transaction valued at around US$800 million. The executives of the company, a subsidiary of Lenovo, said that the alliance between China and Chile is very complementary and has great potential because the quality of Chilean products is in line with the demands of Chinese consumers, who are looking to improve their quality of life through food.

“Joyvio stressed that its strategy in Chile does not stop with the acquisition of Australis. The company sees its relationship as long-term, combining the size of the Chinese market and its needs with the high-quality products that Chile offers. They highlighted the help they could receive from InvestChile as they pursue this road since our knowledge of the Chinese market will help them identify new opportunities,” said Rodríguez.

His activities continued with meetings with Didi – the Chinese Uber – and Mobike. These companies underscored Chile’s technological capacity and the advantage of using Chile as a base from which to expand their businesses in Latin America. Rodríguez also met with Energy China, the world’s largest energy and infrastructure company.

The director of InvestChile met with the Three Gorges electricity company, the Xinwei technology company and China Harbour Engineering Company. On Thursday, he was one of the speakers at InvestChile Forum: Infrastructure for the Future, an event at which he presented the government’s portfolio of tenders and concessions for airports, highways and hospitals as well as the fiber optic project for the far south of Chile and the introduction of 5G.