The fair, which has a delegation of 130 people from China, among them authorities, company and business association representatives, was inaugurated yesterday and seeks to strengthen product marketing.

The foreign investment promotion agency, InvestChile, gave a presentation on business opportunities in Chile to potential investors from Sichuan Province in the framework of the third Exhibition of Chinese Machinery and Electronic Products in Chile.

The Sichuan-Chile Trade and Investment Meeting, which took place this Tuesday, was addressed by Zhang Jipeng, the trade director of Sichuan Province; Víctor Grimblatt, the president of Chile’s Electronic Industry Association (AIE); Qu Guangyi, the vicepresident of the International Trade Chamber of Sichuan’s Machinery Industry; and Alicia Zhu, an executive from InvestChile’s Investment Attraction area.

The InvestChile executive referred to the Agency’s new services and emphasized that the institution has “Chinese personnel that can provide specific information about the different sectors and help companies organize meetings with the main players from industries of their choice in Chile.”

“China is our main trade partner and Chile is the second most important destination for Chinese trade in Latin America. However, in spite of good trade relations, Chinese foreign direct investment in Chile has taken a while to materialize and still remains a challenge,” said Alicia Zhu. “According to Central Bank figures, the stock of Chinese investment in Chile is only US$259 million, an amount that contrasts with the trade volume between the two countries,” she added.

For his part, the AIE president emphasized the close relations between both nations and referred to the potential to continue deepening trade, as well as increasing the Asian giant’s volume of investment in Chile. “Chile is the gate to Latin America, we want to invite you to invest and do business. We want you to be part of our development and growth through trade and investments in Chile,” said the AIE’s Víctor Grimblatt.

Meanwhile, the vicepresident of Sichuan’s International Trade Chamber gave a detailed description of each of the companies present at the meeting, which are looking for local partners or representatives to market their products. Among these are manufacturers of tools, packaging, lighting, telescopes and agribusiness machinery.

Sichuan is China’s fourth most populated province with around 86 million inhabitants and a GDP of over 1.25 billion yuan.

International Fair

The fair, which has a delegation of 130 people, among them authorities, and business association and company representatives, was inaugurated yesterday and seeks to strengthen the marketing of low-cost products and direct contact with exporting companies.

The exhibition is organized by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME), China’s Trade Development Office and Asia Reps.

The fair, which comprises product displays and business meetings and seminars, seeks to position Chile as a gateway for interchange between the world’s second largest economy and Pacific Alliance countries.

On this occasion, participating companies came from five Chinese provinces: Sichuan, Tianjin, Shandong, Zhejiang y Guangdong. The third Exhibition of Machinery and Electronic Products is sponsored by the ministries of Finance, Economy, Economic Development and Tourism, and Foreign Relations, the Embassies of both countries, the export promotion agency ProChile, Chile Image Foundation, InvestChile and the Chile Pacific Foundation.