• Chile’s Economy Minister and InvestChile director Karla Flores will meet with potential investors in Japan, Korea and China to promote opportunities in critical minerals and green hydrogen.

The investment promotion tour of Asia led by Chile’s Economy Minister Nicolás Grau and organized by InvestChile got underway today in Tokyo, Japan, with an intense schedule of activities.

The minister and the director of the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency, Karla Flores, will also visit Korea and China. An official delegation headed by President Gabriel Boric will join them in China, where ChileWeek activities are set to take place.

During this first day, the delegation, which also included the Investment Commissioner for Asia, Vicente Pinto, and Chile’s ambassador to Japan, Ricardo Rojas, held a meeting at the Institute of Energy Economics (IEEJ) with 12 local companies interested in lithium-related opportunities.

Furthermore, the officials held a series of bilateral meetings with companies from a range of industries, including mining, energy, finance and food, such as Sumitomo, Mitsui, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Sojitz.

The minister also met with the Japanese State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Yasuyuki Sakai, during which they explored potential avenues for cooperation between the two nations.

In this context, Minister Grau particularly emphasized the value the Government places on Japan within the region, «having an aggregate of investments destined for Asia, but based in Japan, attests to the high regard we have for this country, its democratic values and its business culture. It is in our Government’s interests to consolidate this bilateral relationship, exchange and learn from the Japanese experience.»

«Today was undoubtedly an excellent day for attracting strategic investments for our country’s development. Furthermore, the State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan and I were able to talk about our countries’ shared vision, discuss the challenges and joint working so that these different investments can materialize in the best possible way,» he added.

In the meantime, InvestChile director Karla Flores said: «We understand the importance of frank and direct dialogue to the acceleration of investment growth in our country. Coming to Asia with the officials responsible for drawing up public policies and economic reforms is of great value to local companies and is a sign of the Government’s commitment to strengthening understanding and relations with Japanese firms.»

Minister Sakai, meanwhile, highlighted the delegation’s visit, saying that «the Chilean officials’ schedule of activities and meetings will be very useful for providing details to Japanese firms of important business opportunities and forecasts for Chile.»

Japan, Korea, and China

In Japan, the delegation will participate in 16 activities, including bilateral meetings, meetings with companies and banks, as well as interviews with the local press. Then, on Thursday 12, the group will move to the Korean capital of Seoul, where 14 activities are scheduled. These include two seminars: «20 years of the Chile-Korea Free Trade Agreement: evaluation and projections» organized by the Federation of Chilean Industry (SOFOFA) and a seminar to promote the opportunities related to lithium exploitation within the framework of Chile’s National Lithium Strategy.

Starting on Sunday 15, the delegation will join ChileWeek in China, where InvestChile is organizing five industry-specific workshops to enable local companies to learn about investment opportunities in the lithium, electromobility, infrastructure and energy sectors. These activities will be attended by officials and technicians from different ministries and services and are additional to the more than ten bilateral meetings and technical visits scheduled by the agency in Chengdu, Beijing and Shanghai.

Check out the best images from the first day in Tokio: