A public and private delegation will visit New Delhi and Mumbai to strengthen institutional ties between Chile and India, identify opportunities for commercial cooperation and make progress on agreements that help the exchange of goods and services.
Between August 27 and 30, a delegation from the public and private sectors will be in New Delhi and Mumbai participating in Chile Summit India 2024, an event that will become the first high-impact positioning activity that Chile carries out in this market, the third economic power in Asia and the fifth largest economy in the world.
Chile Summit India 2024 is an event organized by ProChile that seeks to strengthen institutional ties between Chile and India, identify opportunities for commercial cooperation and progress in agreements that help the exchange of goods and services.
This mission - which will be led by the Foreign Minister, Alberto van Klaveren, the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, and the General Director of ProChile, Ignacio Fernández - is the highest-level visit that Chile has made since 2019.
The delegation is made up of more than 10 private sector associations: Chile-India Business Council, National Agricultural Society (SNA), Santiago Chamber of Commerce (CCS), Frutas de Chile, ChileNuts, AMICHILE, Wines of Chile, Salmon Council, the Chilean Pacific Foundation and the Association of Film and Television Producers (APCT).
"The Chile Summit 2024 becomes the first high-impact country positioning event that we are going to hold in the Indian market, consolidating a relationship that already has its own foundations," said the foreign minister, adding: "This meeting that we will experience between August 27 and 30 in New Delhi and Mumbai is a testament to our government's commitment to strengthening and deepening ties between both countries. Today, it is about strengthening and deepening our bilateral relationship with one of the most important economic powers in the world," said Foreign Minister Alberto Van Klaveren.
ProChile Director General Ignacio Fernandez said that Chile Summit India is part of the country's efforts to continue diversifying national exports. "Chile has a lot to offer India in terms of high-quality food, where we are recognized as an exporter of premium products, especially fresh and dried fruits such as nuts, where we are also the leading exporter of the product in that market. We also see a lot of potential in creative industries, agricultural innovation, among other goods and services. At the same time, India is a strategic market for the diversification of our exports, a challenge that ProChile has worked on - closely with the public and private sectors - in the five decades of the institution's existence."
The Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, highlighted the opportunities seen in these Asian countries. “We have a huge opportunity in these countries where we see opportunities for our wine and meat industries, and particularly in India. We must focus on this effort that we have put into achieving tariff reductions for nuts and fruits, which are our main priority, without detriment to the rest,” said the authority.
Agenda of activities
Within the framework of Chile Summit India 2024, the Chilean delegation will begin its activities on August 27 in New Delhi, where meetings will be held with important food importers and regulatory entities, and a campaign will be launched to promote Chilean foods in the market.
On August 28, Chile Summit India 2024 will be inaugurated with the participation of all Chilean authorities and their Indian counterparts. That same day, the delegation will participate in discussion panels on topics of innovation and joint challenges in trade; field visits will also be made, highlighting a tour of the Khari Baoli market, the main wholesale market for dried fruits in India and one of the largest in Asia.
The last two days, August 29 and 30, will see the shift to Mumbai - India's second largest city, the country's financial center and the epicenter of "Bollywood," as the powerful Indian audiovisual industry is known - where, among other activities, there will be a visit to the ANUGA fair, the Tata Consulting Services Executive offices, and a panel entitled "Shooting in Chile," which will showcase the alternatives Chile offers for Indian audiovisual productions to use the country as a filming location.
Why India
According to figures from the Undersecretariat of International Economic Relations, trade with India amounted to US$2.847 billion in 2023. Last year, this market ranked 16th as a destination for Chile's non-copper and non-lithium exports, with amounts of US$560 million in exports of goods and services.
Chile was the first country to have a Partial Scope Agreement (PSA) with India, in force since 2007. This agreement was expanded in 2017, where India granted tariff preferences for 1,110 Chilean products.
