Meetings will be held with Saudi authorities and the Joint Trade and Investment Committee with Kenya will be held for the first time.
A delegation from the Undersecretariat of International Economic Relations of Chile (SUBREI), headed by Undersecretary Claudia Sanhueza, begins today a visit to Saudi Arabia, Kenya and South Africa, with the aim of strengthening the economic-commercial relationship with these markets, attracting investments and promoting the diversification of the Chilean export basket.
The tour begins in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh, where the delegation will meet with officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Investment and Foreign Trade, as well as the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, an organization made up of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
“The Council has played a leading role in recent years in the negotiation of economic and commercial agreements and in the bilateral promotion of trade and investments with trading partners such as New Zealand, South Korea, Indonesia, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and ASEAN, to name a few,” explains Undersecretary Sanhueza.
The SUBREI authority added that after the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed last year with the United Arab Emirates, Chile hopes to continue consolidating its presence in the Gulf region. And in the particular case of Saudi Arabia, he pointed out that this country “is embarked on an ambitious process of modernizing and transforming its economic activity, the 2030 vision.
This strategic plan contemplates aspects in which Chile can contribute and it will certainly be important to know in situ all the projects and objectives that it is covering in order to evaluate possible collaborative work, and thus strengthen our insertion in the Gulf region."
The delegation will then travel to Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, where the First Joint Committee on Trade and Investment will be held, a relevant milestone in seeking economic and commercial opportunities with this country.
“Kenya is the largest economy in East Africa and there are opportunities for our exports. Agricultural and food products are key to its trade balance and opportunities arise here for products such as pork, poultry products, salmon, wines and spirits,” explained the Undersecretary.
On the other hand, he added, the aim will be to establish links in the area of trade in services and investment, "where sectors such as renewable energy, mining, ICT, digital commerce and telecommunications represent clear opportunities for our economy."
The tour will then continue in Pretoria, South Africa, where the 8th Joint Trade and Investment Commission will be held, an event that has not been held since 2021 (when it was held virtually). In Pretoria, meetings are also planned with both Chilean and South African companies, “which will provide us with key information to set concrete and pragmatic objectives,” adds Undersecretary Sanhueza.
South Africa is Africa's second largest economy and has positioned itself as one of the fastest growing regions for exports by Chilean mining supplier companies, with an average growth rate of 24% over the past six years, he noted.
THE FOCUS ON INDIA
Following her tour of Saudi Arabia and Africa – and prior to her return to Chile – Undersecretary Sanhueza will hold a meeting with the Minister of Commerce of India, Piyush Goyal, with the aim of continuing the work started in October 2023 with a view to deepening economic-commercial relations with that country.
“India is an important market for our country. The private sector has shown interest and we will continue working to deepen the Partial Scope Agreement that we have had since 2007 and which was later expanded in 2017,” said the authority.
