Chile is a country located in the extreme southwest of South America. Its capital city is Santiago.
Chile comprises a long thin strip of land between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountain range, with over 4,800 km of coastline. It borders Peru to the north and Bolivia and Argentina to the east. It also has insular territories in the Pacific Ocean, with a total surface area of 756,096.3 km2.
Chile is an advocate of free trade, and is open to the world. It has managed to position itself as the Latin American hub with the NAFTA, becoming a natural bridge for business, commerce and investment between Latin American and Asian Pacific countries.
With the approval of the FTA with China, Japan and India, Chile has become the country with the largest network of commercial agreements in the world – 21 agreements in 57 countries. It is currently one of the most open economies in the world, with preferential access to a market of 4,000 million people. This area of commerce represents 87% of the World GNP.
Chile has continued with this strategy of international insertion, and is currently beginning FTA negotiations with Australia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Turkey.
On 11 January 2010, Chile joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The objective of this international cooperation organization, comprised of 32 countries, is to coordinate economic and social policies. Chile is country number 31 and the first in South America to become a part of this organization.
Chile has the best infrastructure in Latin America. In a ranking by “América Economía”, which considered the development of infrastructure in transport, telecommunications, electricity and water, Chile is ranked second, with a clear distance from its closest competitors. It is for this reason that Chile has become a platform for foreign investment for other countries and many companies have installed their corporate headquarters in Santiago.
Chile is currently ranked 20th among the most attractive countries in which to do business. The main reasons are the following:
Stable economy: This is due to a constant annual average economic growth of 5% in the last decade, to exceptional levels of macroeconomic stability reached by the country, to a solid banking system, low inflation, low debt in relation to Gross National Product (4.1% of the GNP), the healthy budget surplus (4.7% of GNP) and an almost complete absence of political risk.
Trained human resources: Chile has several of the best business schools in Latin America and has in general reached high educational standards. Although the Chilean workforce is recognized as one of the most skilled in Latin America, its competitive labor costs are lower than those in North American and Europe. This, among other reasons, justifies the decision of companies from the United Sates as well as from Spain to install their call centers in Chile.
Quality of life: Santiago is one of the cities with the best quality of life in the region, according to several studies, and also stands out for its low crime rate and an interesting offer of sports and recreational activities.
World-class connectivity: Chile’s telecommunications infrastructure is first-rate and one of the most outstanding in the region. In its latest study on the best cities in which to do business in Latin America, the business magazine “América Economía” ranked Santiago second in the region, after Buenos Aires.
Competitive costs: Chilean cities are well-evaluated when considering conditions in which to do business and the costs of transfers, among others. In the latest study on the best cities in which to do business in Latin America, the same magazine ranked Santiago second in the region, after Sao Paulo and above Miami.
Access to world markets: With over 20 trade agreements signed, Chile is a country with an open and internationally-connected economy.
Solid institutions: Political and economic stability characterize the development of Chile in the last two decades.
