Chile’s Ambassador to Brazil: “Minas Gerais state will be central to export expansion”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After São Paulo, Belo Horizonte is the next Brazilian city to have a physical office of ProChile, an institution of the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs that promotes the exportation of Chilean goods and services and contributes to the development of the country, through the internationalization of Chilean companies and the promotion of the country’s image, foreign investment and tourism.

The local unit will be inaugurated this Thursday (25), with the presence of the Chilean Ambassador to Brazil, Fernando Schmidt Ariztía, and ProChile’s commercial director, María Julia Riquelme. The creation of the office should have taken place last year, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Schmidt and Riquelme will meet with the mayor of Belo Horizonte, Alexandre Kalil, and the president of the Commercial and Business Association (AC Minas), José Anchieta, to discuss the free trade agreement between the national governments, to be valid starting in January, and the strategies to strengthen the Minas Gerais market and the exchange between the nations. In 2021 alone, Minas Gerais imported R$510 (US$91) million in products and services from the neighboring country.

Ariztía said that the goal is the strengthening of the Chilean and Brazilian business sectors. “This is the ideal moment for businessmen to invest more,” he says. To the Estado de Minas newspaper, the ambassador talks about rapprochement between the nations and about the directions of the free trade agreement that aims to expand commercial relations starting next year.

What is your evaluation about these 16 months of ProChile in Minas Gerais?

We had bad luck, because the pandemic came when we were going to inaugurate the commercial office in Belo Horizonte. We delayed the process, but during this period we worked intensively with the honorary consulate in São Paulo and in Belo Horizonte. We reached an absolutely positive figure in 2021, as Chilean exports to Minas Gerais reached 90 million dollars (R$ 510 million), from January to October, which represents 24% more than the previous year.

What factors motivated the Chileans to approach Minas Gerais?

Of the 13 most important states in Brazil, Minas has a strong economy, with a population of 21.2 million and a very interesting GDP. The logistics are also very favorable. We say that Chile is a “mining country”, where there is a range of services and investments that can be developed. We are always looking at the Chilean participation in the Brazilian market, with an eye for new opportunities. We were offered a physical space to place Minas as a central point in our expansion.

How did the initiative to set up the office in the state come about? And what about future expectations?

Minas already had several elements that brought us closer to the Chileans, but there is a specific interest from the mining companies, for example, in the field of startups, in which it is possible to seek more investment in Chile.

We are thinking about a space to set up the commercial office after São Paulo. The mining economy of Minas should also be remembered as a fundamental part of this process. Some Chilean groups, such as Sonda, Cencosud, Bretas, Bailac and Bertec, are already established in Minas Gerais.

How was this exchange affected during the pandemic?

It is evident that the relationship was shaken, because the trade between countries decreased considerably. But we tried to multiply the contacts through our virtual office in Minas Gerais, participating in several initiatives with industrial federations from Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, the Northeast and Cuiabá. We held important seminars during the months. We are looking to expand Chilean exports of salmon, wines, and services.

What does the free trade agreement between Brazil and Chile consist of? And what are the advantages of this agreement?

On January 25, 2022, the free trade agreement comes into effect. There is political cooperation between the countries to deepen trade paths and opportunities. In April 2018, both agreed to intensify their economic relations.

The idea culminated in four negotiations by October 19 this year. President Michel Temer had signed a free trade agreement in 2018, but the process was only completed by the legislative houses this year. We have zero tariffs in the Economic Complementation Agreement No. 35 signed between Brazilians and Chileans that aims to facilitate trade, but today we have a better structure to help exporters and importers.

We have instruments such as temporary admission of goods, digital certificate of origin and electronic commerce, which is very important for small and medium-sized companies. Therefore, we are able to develop alliances for research and development of technological products to give more value to the product for the benefit of the economies. This is the ideal moment for entrepreneurs to invest more.

Do you believe that the economy has reached an ideal recovery for this agreement to have greater proportions?

The Chilean economy has recovered and has frightening growth. We are talking about a 12% expansion in 2021. This is something well above expectations. Brazil can grow in the 5% range, but we have to remember that the Brazilian economy is very complex and has enormous opportunities.

It is not easy to compare these numbers with the growth that China has today, for example, but we can reach this number and this will be beneficial for Chile and Brazil. Brazil today is the main destination for Chile’s foreign investments.

We have an accumulation of US$35 billion invested in Brazil. Of everything that we invest in the world, practically a third stays here. This is important data for us to see what it means for companies to invest in Brazil.

And we have managed to grow together. Chile is also important for Brazil, because we are the second country in South America to which Brazil most exports its products, behind only Argentina.

Source: Estado de Minas