The delegation headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto van Klaveren, the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela and the General Director of ProChile, Ignacio Fernández - plus 10 private sector associations - estimate that the event will help boost trade with the Asian country, not only in agro-foods but also in sectors such as services and creative industries.
Two cities - New Delhi and Mumbai - and nearly 20 activities were part of Chile Summit India 2024, an event organized by ProChile, with the aim of strengthening institutional ties between Chile and India, identifying opportunities for commercial cooperation and advancing agreements that help the exchange of goods and services.
Chile Summit India 2024 became Chile's first high-impact positioning activity in this market. It was led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto van Klaveren; and was also attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela; and the general director of ProChile, Ignacio Fernández.
They were accompanied by more than 10 private sector associations such as the Chile-India Business Council, the Imagen de Chile Foundation, the Timber Corporation (CORMA), the National Agricultural Society (SNA), the Association of Film and Television Producers (APCT), the Santiago Chamber of Commerce (CCS), Frutas de Chile, ChileNuts, AMICHILE, Wines of Chile, the Salmon Council and the Chilean Pacific Foundation.
This is the most important Chilean public-private delegation to have travelled to India and the highest-level visit to our country in at least the last 10 years.
“Chile and India have strong political, economic and commercial ties that we would like to continue to strengthen, which is why holding this Chile Summit was very important. India is one of the most significant markets in the world, so being present there, the public and private worlds together, is a clear sign of the importance for Chile of what is now the fifth largest economy in the world,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto van Klaveren.
Agriculture Minister Esteban Valenzuela thanked ProChile and Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren “because it has been an exceptional week. Chile contributes a lot to India, not only minerals, but also seafood and agricultural products such as nuts, kiwis and apples. Indians are enthusiastic about doing business with Chile, creating networks and cooperating. Many opportunities are opening up for us.”
For the Director General of ProChile, Ignacio Fernández, Chile Summit India fulfilled the objective that was set when organizing the event. “We are happy with this activity because we believe that it increased the knowledge that existed about Chile and we managed to deepen commercial relations. There was a very good atmosphere not only between the public-private delegation, but also between Indian businessmen. A relationship of trust and a very strong closeness has been built, where there is great interest in doing business with our country,” says Fernández.
Guilds value event and future business opportunities
The private sector associations that accompanied the delegation thanked the public entities for their efforts in organizing the Chile Summit India and leading the delegation, which helped to continue promoting the trade of Chilean products to India.
The Chile-India Business Council, represented by its president Iván Marambio, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Forum of Indian Food Industries (FIFI) to strengthen bilateral relations in the food and beverage sector. “The signing of this MoU confirms this work and deepens it, especially considering that the agri-food and beverage sector is seen as having the greatest growth potential by the Chilean business sector,” says Marambio.
“Having had the opportunity to talk with Indian importers and entrepreneurs to generate opportunities for Chilean aquaculture is important. This is a market that is completely unexplored for mussels and with this type of event we can continue to build forward,” said Rodrigo Carrasco, Executive Director of AMIChile, the association of producers and exporters of mussels in Chile.
Angelica Valenzuela, Commercial Director of Wines of Chile, comments that her group's objective in participating in Chile Summit India was "to continue opening markets, and India has a very important potential for Chilean wines, where there is a significant challenge in terms of finding agreements and achieving a reduction in tariffs and at the same time developing a market that today is for whiskey."
Juan Esteban Valenzuela, president of Chilenut, says that this event was a success for the nut industry “where India is a very important market, where we are the main source of exports and the potential for growth is immense.”
Finally, one of the prominent associations was the Association of Film and Television Producers (APCT), who were represented by their vice president Alexandra Galvis, who gave two presentations on the possibilities of filming in Chile. “Chile Summit was an incredible door-opener. (The audiovisual industry) has long been focused on European markets and we have wanted to open our work in Asia for some time. We managed to contact a large part of the companies in Mumbai that want to go to Chile to film and do something concrete in our country.”
In addition, during Chile Summit India 2024 there were promotional actions such as the “Flavours of Chile” campaign - which included activities to promote Chilean products on the menu of a restaurant in New Delhi and in supermarkets in Delhi and Mumbai - and also the announcement of the opening of the BDP Foods company in Mumbai, which will support nine companies in the agricultural sector, producers of fresh fruit, salmon, nuts, mussels, horse mackerel and wine from Chile, to make their way into the Indian market.
Another milestone was the announcement made by the Santiago Chamber of Commerce (CCS) that 30 Indian businessmen will land during the second half of October to explore new businesses thanks to an agreement signed between the CCS and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
“These Indian companies will be visiting Chile for three days with high-level executives and we will be organizing a very full agenda that will allow us to learn in detail how to do business with Chile and to be able to connect with Chilean companies so that we can move to the next level,” says the Manager of Partners and International Affairs of CCS, Juan Francisco Velasco.
