• The event was inaugurated by President Sebastián Piñera, who assured that “foreign investment is welcome in Chile.”

The Fifth International Investment Forum, organized by InvestChile, the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency, was inaugurated this morning by the President of the Republic, Sebastián Piñera. Speaking to an audience of more than 300 people, most of them representing overseas companies from a total of 21 countries, President Piñera indicated that “foreign investment is very welcome in Chile; we can assure you that we have a stable country, with solid rule of law and an economy that is growing.” He also drew attention to the figure for foreign investment in 2018, which reached over US$12,000 million, an increase of more than 78% on the previous year. “Our economy is healthy, with a macroeconomic equilibrium that is strengthening, a debt that is stabilizing and an enormous capacity for growth. In 2018, it grew 4%, well ahead of the region and well ahead of the world,” he noted.

The President made these remarks during the inaugural conference of the country’s most important foreign investment attraction event, which is being held in Santiago through to tomorrow. More than 100 companies are participating in the Forum and represent investment projects worth over US$7,200 million that would imply the creation of 1,500 jobs.

The director of InvestChile, Cristián Rodríguez, emphasized that “this event demonstrates Chile’s attractiveness for foreign investors. Last year, the portfolio of projects managed by InvestChile practically doubled to US$14,000 million and now we are starting the year with more than 100 companies visiting Santiago with concrete projects. Today, Chile is a Latin American hub for the development of data centers and investment in global services and technology, clean energy, intelligent mining, agribusiness and other sectors. In our country, all investment is welcome but, without doubt, we also have to seek investment that represents a contribution to the country, especially in the creation of high-quality jobs.”

The Minister of Economy, Economic Development and Tourism, José Ramón Valente, indicated that Chile “is a country which attracts foreign investors and does not scare them.” In his remarks, he said that “we expect [foreign investment] to grow in 2019. This greatly encourages us to think that the message that this is an attractive country in which to invest is permeating the rest of the world. And foreign investors are coming to our country.” He added that “the invitation is for you to come and invest in this country, which is open and stable and, obviously, has difficulties…but a government willing to help you overcome the difficulties.”

Over 200 meetings and the presence of ministers

The inaugural conference was attended by senior representatives of Amazon Web Services, Google, Huawei, &Beyond, Hortifrut and the government’s Economic Development Agency (CORFO) as well as the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America (LAVCA) and Chilean start-ups Cornershop, Notco and TriCiclos, who debated matters such as sustainable investment and technological investment.

During the afternoon, a series of workshops were held on sectors such as Infrastructure, chaired by Public Works Minister Juan Andrés Fontaine; the Food Industry, with Minister of Agriculture Antonio Walker; Mining, with Mining Minister Baldo Prokurica; Global Services; and Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship. During these workshops, investors were able to learn at firsthand about the opportunities Chile offers and to meet with the leading public and private players from each sector.

Tomorrow, overseas companies will also be able to participate in a round of matchmaking for which over 200 meetings have been scheduled, including both potential local partners and suppliers.

According to InvestChile, the most numerous delegations are from the United States, with 14 companies, Canada (13), Brazil (8) and China (6). The sector with the largest number of projects is global services and technology, with 20 initiatives, followed by mining (15) and venture capital and entrepreneurship (13).