Chilean authorities inaugurate Chile Summit India 2024 in the Asian country, with a call to strengthen trade and bilateral ties between the two countries

A key milestone in diplomatic and trade relations occurred on the second day of the Chile Summit India 2024 - Chile's first high-impact positioning activity in this market - when the event was officially inaugurated with the presence of the delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto van Klaveren; the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela; and the Director General of ProChile, Ignacio Fernández.

Chile Summit India 2024, an event organized by ProChile, seeks to strengthen institutional ties between Chile and India, identify opportunities for trade cooperation and advance agreements that help the exchange of goods and services.

At the Taj Mahal Hotel in the city of New Delhi, and before an audience of Indian authorities and businessmen, the Chilean authorities discussed the challenges and opportunities for trade and bilateral trade with India.

“We are at a moment for great opportunities. India is not only one of the most dynamic economies in the world, but also a market with an impressive cultural and economic diversity, capable of offering unique opportunities for countries like Chile. Our nation, with its stability and economic openness, is well positioned to be a strategic partner in Latin America. It is no coincidence that we have chosen this moment to hold the first Chile Summit India. Our intention is clear: we want to explore and maximize the opportunities that exist for both countries,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Alberto van Klaveren.

For his part, the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, stated that “we have a huge opportunity in India for our wine, fresh fruit, nuts, meat and forestry products industry, we have to put the focus on getting tariff reductions for several of the products in our export basket, especially nuts and wines. As a global supplier of healthy, safe, quality and sustainably produced food, we are also a key player in the production and export of forest products. We want India and its families to know and increase their demand for Chilean products, which is why this first Chile Summit India 2024 is so important”.

ProChile's General Director, Ignacio Fernández, spoke about the opportunities and challenges presented by exports to India, which totaled more than US$560 million in non-copper, non-lithium shipments in 2023, while in the first seven months of this year they totaled US$459 million, up 53% compared to the same period last year.

Fernández expounded that Chilean food exports have grown by almost 1,000% to India since 2013 and that Chile can offer more than just quality food products. “We also see a lot of potential in creative industries - where we want India to use Chile as a film location - or services related to the agricultural or mining industry. We have more than US$ 1.1 billion of export opportunities for products that India imports from other markets and not from Chile,” detailed the General Director.

The inauguration was also attended by Iván Marambio, president of the Chile-India Business Committee, who presented a poll of more than 144 entrepreneurs and 126 Chilean companies, who showed great interest in doing business with India and highlighted the barriers that still need to be overcome.

Various activities with multisectoral focus

After the inauguration and a panel on how to further increase bilateral trade between the two nations - with the participation of three members of the Chilean delegation (Minister Valenzuela; Juan Esteban Rodriguez of Chilenuts and Antonio Walker, president of SNA) and three Indian experts - the Chilean delegation split up for different activities.

Foreign Affairs Minister van Klaveren had a meeting with the Indian Foreign Affairs Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar -in the context of the second edition of the India-Chile Joint Commission-, a meeting with the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, and an academic meeting at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Agriculture met with the Minister of Fisheries, Agriculture and Dairy, Rajiv Ranjan Singh, and closed a wine masterclass organized by Wines of Chile.

At the same time, a delegation of nuts together with the Director General of ProChile and the Minister of Agriculture visited the Khari Baoli market, one of the largest in Asia and where Chilean nuts are marketed, to see -on the ground- how they are sold and promoted.

In addition, the fresh fruit and seafood delegation had meetings with supermarkets to see how to introduce these Chilean products in this type of stores.

The delegation linked to innovation, services and creative industries presented to local counterparts: Alexandra Galvis, vice-president of the Association of Film and Television Producers (ACPT), showed Chile's offer for filming audiovisual productions in the country. In addition, the Santiago Chamber of Commerce (CCS) announced that 30 Indian companies will travel to Santiago in October to explore business with Chilean companies, thanks to an agreement signed with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

At the end of the day, there was a second activity of the “Flavors from Chile” campaign -which will promote Chilean foods to the Indian consumer- at the “Foodstories” supermarket. In that retail store, the offer of apples, kiwis, nuts and Chilean salmon present in that store was shown.