Isabel Cocker/The Santiago Times
BEIJING – The third annual ChileWeek China was opened yesterday in Beijing by the ex-President, Eduardo Frei, and the Director of the Office for International Economic Relations (DIRECON), Paulina Nazal.
The event, running from the 29th August until 8th September, takes place across six of China’s biggest cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Shenzhen. It comprises of a week of panels, meetings and other events intended to promote cooperation in trade and investment between the two countries.
According to the DIRECON website, Frei will visit all six of the cities across the week to meet with local authorities and investors in a range of activities which include factory visits and workshops.
In his role as the Special Ambassador for Asia Pacific, he underlined the importance of his mission: “What is central to our arrival in China is that we do it as a country, united totally in the public and private sectors, as businessmen, and in our culture. It is Chile itself which is going to China, and this is much remarked upon in China and, more generally, in Asia.
“By uniting, we can show the power that our country has to participate in these markets.”
However, the week is not just about improving business relations, but also about sharing Chilean culture with the Asian state and using to it encourage younger generations to participate in more international opportunities. DIRECON has planned a meeting on Thursday afternoon between the coach Manuel Pellegrini, the current technical director of Hebei Fortune, and various youths aged 10 and 14, to talk about football and to motivate them to continue training.
According to the government agency, this effort and perseverance is something which the Chinese President himself, President Xi Jinping, and his government have been steadily promoting.
At the launch on Tuesday, over 200 businessmen, press agents, representatives from both the Chinese and the Chilean governments and academics gathered to celebrate the opportunity for closer relations between the two countries. According to El Mercurio, Frei used the opportunity to call for more Chinese investment in Chile, citing the country’s clear trade policies and its financial stability.
