Alberto Rubio
The Chilean Ministers of Economy and Public Works, Nicolás Grau and Juan Carlos García, highlighted on Monday, during a business meeting organised by the CEOE, the business and investment opportunities that are opening up for Spanish companies in the Andean country.
Presented by the Chilean ambassador to Spain, Javier Velasco, both ministers, accompanied by the director of InvestChile, Katia Flores, began a promotional tour of Europe in Madrid, which will take them successively to Paris, Berlin and London, with the aim of promoting investment in all sectors of the economy.
The Chilean Minister of Public Works, Juan Carlos García, presented the Public-Private Alliance Infrastructure Plan 2022-2026, and announced the ‘Let’s Invest in Chile’ Plan, which consists of 6 lines of action and 28 initiatives.
García, however, assured that investment in itself is not enough and therefore added that his government wants to “orient projects towards areas with great potential for the future, such as electromobility, circular economy or social sustainability”. He also alluded to the need to take into account the regionalisation that Chile is experiencing when executing the planned works.
García indicated that there are already 108 contracts awarded, with committed investments of almost 27 billion dollars. He added that the Public-Private Alliance Infrastructure Plan 2022-2026 “consists of 43 tenders and 52 projects, with an estimated investment of 13,258 million dollars” in four areas: water security, Chile’s Pan-American Highway, airport services and infrastructure improvements in cities.
The Minister of Economy, Nicolás Grau, welcomed Chile’s rapid economic recovery after the crisis. He said that “inflation has been reacted to with a large increase in the Central Bank’s interest rates” and reported that a tax reform is underway and is being debated in Parliament. According to Grau, Chile “wants to reconcile this economic dynamism with the government’s commitment to carbon neutrality”.
The economy minister admitted that Chile has a very robust permitting system, but it is quite complex. For this reason, he announced that an Agenda for the Modernisation of the General Directorate of Concessions will be launched, which will focus on improving the processing of sectoral permits over the next two years.
At the opening of the forum, the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, highlighted “the worldwide recognition of Spanish infrastructure companies” and emphasised their ability to adapt to global needs, establish alliances and agreements with subcontractors and local suppliers. He also added the competitive advantage of Spanish companies in the areas of water, water resource management and green infrastructures, such as hydrogen.
Garamendi stressed the importance of Chile continuing to promote its strategy of international economic integration or ‘open regionalism’, both bilaterally – with the EU-Chile Association Agreement and through the forthcoming Spanish presidency of the EU – and multilaterally – promoting agreements within the framework of the WTO and the OECD and, at regional level, in the Pacific Alliance.
The CEO of ICEX, María Peña, said that “Chile is one of our main export markets”, but pointed out that the pillar underpinning relations between Spain and Chile is investment. She recalled that Spain is the third largest investor in Chile in terms of Foreign Direct Investment stock, behind only the United States and Canada, and that Spanish companies have diversified investments in multiple strategic sectors.
José Luis Bonet, President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce underlined the strong commitment of Spanish companies to the growth, employment and competitiveness of Chile, as well as the “interest to continue strengthening trade and investment relations that have traditionally been very intense and maintain a great potential for development”. He therefore stressed the importance of public-private collaboration to achieve these objectives, “something that you, with your presence in Spain, are helping to strengthen”.
