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Chile comes to Central America

Monday, September 9, 2013


A trade mission last month to San José promoted Chilean exports of everything from wood and metal products to organic petroleum-spill cleaners.

The event co organizers, Chile Manufactura (Chile Produces), a trade association, and ProChile, the country’s official export promoter, plan to take similar missions to Panama and Colombia.

Forty Chilean companies participated in the mission to Costa Rica.

Chile also wants to export education, especially postgraduate, by attracting students from Central America, partly on the basis of quality, and partly on price.

Chile scores first in Latin America in all categories – language, math and science – of the global PISA test for high school students.

Foreign students can apply for scholarships and reduced fees.

Four universities participated in the mission to San José - Central, Chile, Concepción and Pontificia Católica, Chilean investors may be interested in Central American farms, which they could use as export platforms.

The advantages of agriculture in the region include low land and labor costs, a warm climate, abundant rain, and low shipping costs to the United States and Europe.

In order to increase their output of grape, apple and other fruits, Chilean exporters have recently acquired properties in Peru and Brazil.

At 2.6 per cent of total area, Chile has less arable land than any Latin American country.