Chile's ministers visit Mumbai, hail India's rise as an economic giant

New Delhi/Mumbai, Aug 29 (IANS)  A high-level delegation from Chile led by Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren and Agriculture Minister Esteban Valenzuela held several meetings with industry leaders in Mumbai during the third and final day of their India visit on Thursday.

While Klaveren visited the Mumbai facilities of Tata Consultancy Services - a company whose headquarters for Latin America is in Santiago - and met with its Managing Director K Krithivasan, Valenzuela and ProChile Director General, together with the Chilean food sector delegation, visited a food and beverage fair to publicise the variety of forestry and agricultural products that Chile produces and exports.

On Wednesday, Klaveren and External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar jointly chaired the 2nd India-Chile Joint Commission Meeting in New Delhi before the visiting Foreign Minister and Esteban Valenzuela, the Agriculture Minister of Chile, participated in Chile⁠-India Business (Agriculture) Summit.

The meeting focused on the deepening of trade ties, agriculture, defence, digital public infrastructure, health, science and technology, education, culture, Antarctica cooperation, among other matters.

Klaveren later called on Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, with whom he discussed deepening trade ties.

The two ministers, along with ProChile General Director Ignacio Fernandez, also inaugurated the Chile Summit India 2024 — Chile's first high-impact positioning activity in the Indian market.

"We are in a time of great opportunity. 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 Klaveren.

Valenzuela also admitted that there is a huge opportunity in India for Chilean wine, fresh fruit, nuts, meat and forest products industry.

"We trade around 270 million dollars a year with India; it is a figure that we have to improve. We are global suppliers of healthy, safe, quality and sustainably produced foods, and 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," he said.

ProChile's General Director Fernandez explained that Chilean food exports to India have grown by almost 1,000 per cent 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 location for its films – or services related to the agricultural or mining industry. We have more than 1.1 billion dollars of export opportunities for products that India imports from other markets and not from Chile," he stated.

Both, Valenzuela and Fernandez, also visited Delhi's Khari Baoli market - one of the largest in Asia and where Chilean nuts are sold.

While Chile's fresh fruit and seafood delegation held meetings with supermarkets to see how to introduce these Chilean products into these types of stores, Alexandra Galvis, the Vice President of the Association of Film and Television Producers (ACPT), presented to local counterparts an offer that the country has for filming audiovisual productions.

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 they signed with the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (FICCI).