The second version of ChileWeek in China – which will take place this year in the cities of Guangzhou and Beijing between August 28 and September 2 – will comprise more than 40 different activities to promote products, services and investment and will be attended by a delegation of some 80 companies from the food and beverages, manufacturing, services and tourism sectors.

The announcement was made during the official launch of ChileWeek China 2016 by former President Eduardo Frei who, as Special Ambassador for Asia-Pacific, will head the Chilean delegation. The launch ceremony took place at the residence of the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, Li Baorong, and was also attended by the Ministers of Economy, Luis Felipe Céspedes, and Mining, Aurora Williams, the Undersecretaries of Foreign Relations, Edgardo Riveros, and Telecommunications, Pedro Huichalaf, and the Director General of DIRECON, Andrés Rebolledo, as well as the heads of some government services, representatives of business associations and businesspeople who will participate in this second version of ChileWeek in China.

“We need to strengthen our relations with China because competition is intense. At the first version of ChileWeek China, we achieved important agreements with, for example, the China Chile Central company in the free trade zone of Shanghai and Alibaba in order to allow more Chilean companies to be present in this market and for the first Chinese bank to be able to operate with renminbi in Chile and Latin America. And now we are going with new sectors such as astronomy, telecommunications and education because it is of transcendental importance to seek new business alternatives,” said former President Frei.

Ambassador Li Baorong underlined that this is a good time to strengthen relations. “China’s growth in the first half of the year reached 6.7%, positioning it as one of the world’s leading economies,” he said, adding that “between January and June, 7,170,000 new jobs were created in urban areas, equivalent to 71.1% of the target for the whole year, while disposable per capita income was up by 8.7%.”

DIRECON’s Director General, Andrés Rebolledo, drew attention to the public-private effort involved in by ChileWeek China. “Together, we have built a successful event,” he said. He also highlighted the importance of the Chinese market for Chile, pointing out that “China is our principal market and 25% of Chilean exports go there; over the past ten years, trade has quadrupled and, last year, exports reached some US$16,000 million.”

This year, ChileWeek China will take place in the city of Guangzhou between August 28 and 30 and in Beijing between August 30 and September 2 in the framework of the tenth anniversary of the FTA between the two countries.

Trade promotion and investment attraction

The event will focus on promoting trade in goods and services, specifically in the food and beverages, tourism and financial services sectors, and on attracting investment in agribusiness, energy, mining and telecommunications. The program will include business seminars, round tables, technical visits, shows of products, investment lunches and other activities to facilitate the creation of a range of networks of contacts between businesspeople and government authorities from the two countries. In addition, it will include high-impact activities for the media and specialized press and the end audience such as a display of Chile’s exportable products in a mall in Guangzhou, a cooking show for journalists, a Foods from Chile reception on the Pearl River in Guangzhou and the showing of Chile in the Sky on the Great Wall of China in Beijing.

In this second version of the event, the Chilean delegation will again be led by former President Eduardo Frei. It will also include the Ministers of Agriculture, Carlos Furche, and of Economy, Luis Felipe Céspedes; the Undersecretary of Telecommunications, Pedro Huichalaf; the Director of InvestChile, Carlos Álvarez; the Executive Vice-President of Cochilco, Sergio Hernández; and the Director General of DIRECON, Andrés Rebolledo, as well as regional governors and other authorities, business leaders and exporters.

For further details about ChileWeek China 2016, click here.

Text and photos: DIRECON.