SANTIAGO – Chilean President Sebastian Piñera plans to meet with the chief executives of Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc next week in order to pledge their support for the South American country to advance in terms of innovation and technology.
The president said on Tuesday he expects to meet with the founders of Amazon and Google at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Idaho, in the Western United States, in the framework of an upcoming international tour.
“We have meetings with the main leaders and pioneers in technological advances, such as (Alphabet’s) Larry Page and (Amazon’s) Jeff Bezos, and many more,” Piñera told journalists at the presidential palace.
“I hope to commit these people and companies to help Chile make a great leap forward in science and technology,” he added.
Piñera, who took office last March, will make between July 6 and 11 a trip that includes Jamaica, Costa Rica, Panama and the United States.
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Amazon and Alphabet, the parent company of Google Inc, did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular working hours.
Amazon has been evaluating opening a regional data center in Chile or Argentina, two of the largest economies in South America. Both countries have been courting investment from the cloud computing and e-commerce company.
In May, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) vice president, Teresa Carlson, visited Mr. Piñera in the presidential palace, amid the interest of the U.S. giant to expand its operations in Latin America.
The billionaire president has said he hopes to convert Chile into a digital and information services platform for South America. The sector has received $18 billion in investment in the past decade, according to Telecommunications Ministry data.
According to media reports, Piñera will participate as special guest at the 39th Summit of Caricom (Government of the Caribbean Community) heads of government where he will also deliver a speech. He will travel accompanied by Foreign Minister, Roberto Ampuero.
