At the forum “InvestChile: Infrastructure for the Future”, Chinese investors were able to learn more about opportunities in the construction of airports, highways, hospitals and fiber optic and 5G infrastructure.

In the context of President Sebastián Piñera’s visit to China, Chile presented its portfolio of state tenders and concessions to more than a hundred Chinese companies at the forum “InvestChile: Infrastructure for the Future” in Beijing. Information was provided about projects for the construction of airports, highways and hospitals as well as the fiber optic project for the far south of Chile and the introduction of 5G.

The event was led by Undersecretary for Telecommunications Pamela Gidi and by the director of InvestChile, Cristián Rodríguez. In her presentation, Gidi pointed out that, in order to consolidate its regional position of leadership in the field of technology, Chile wants to be the first country in Latin America to implement 5G technology and, in addition, aspires to connect South America and Asia through fiber optics.

“Connecting Latin America through fiber optics with Asia is an expensive project since it would be the longest cable in the world. We are working with Argentina and Brazil and other countries to achieve it,” said Gidi. She added that, by the end of this year, technical studies should be ready showing, among other things, where the cable should make land in Asia (Seoul, Singapore and Tokyo are among the possibilities) and, after this, a tender would be launched so as to start construction in 2021, as the Chilean government aims.

Cristián Rodríguez pointed out that new Chinese investments played an important role in the 81% growth of InvestChile’s portfolio of projects in 2018. This portfolio includes projects for over US$14,000 million that have the potential to create 15,000 new jobs in the country.

In 2016, the portfolio included only five Chinese initiatives (for US$310 million) but, by the end of 2018, there were 19 initiatives for a total of over US$1,800 million. “Today we are here because we are committed to multiplying these figures in the coming years, both in quantity and quality,” said the director of InvestChile.

“This year, InvestChile is actively promoting 123 public projects worth US$3,700 million, not only in infrastructure and telecommunications, but also in energy, tourism and mining. We are confident that Chinese companies will participate in these public tenders and that we will soon see more of them in our market,” emphasized Rodríguez.