Chile’s Foreign Minister: ‘India should have important role in being a great partner (of Chile) — in services, tech’

We are less than two months into office. India is a first priority for us. The reason we came here is two-fold — is to open markets further, to trade more with India, and also to foster investment in Chile from India, so we can establish Chile as a hub for the rest of the world, particularly in services that require human capital, especially in the digital economy. Chile is probably one of the most open countries in the world to trade. We have more than 60 FTAs with the world.

We want countries to “Choose Chile” as the best place to do business.

We are going to be very relevant for the world in critical minerals and rare earths. We are to have around 30% of the world reserves of lithium and copper… And these are going to be key ingredients for the future of AI revolution for data centres and AI factories, but we need to use that opportunity to create other platforms for growth. We want to trade much more with India. And that implies investments and long-term commitments.

You talked about the critical minerals, and India is especially interested in the lithium and copper reserves that Chile has. What is the status of the cooperation?

Normally in the past, when you talked about value added, people were thinking of industrial policy and like the government’s wanting to direct what the private sector was doing through subsidies and taxes. We want to ensure the markets in particular, critical minerals, but also in other other products, are not only efficient but transparent and fair… And that implies necessarily, not to look only at the best price, but also at how the structure of the market is being organised. So you don’t get monopoly powers and distortions… highly concentrated markets are the problem. We want to make sure more parties join the club, and we can diversify.

We just signed an agreement with the US, and this is one of the things we’d like to include in our talks with India, so that we really have a very strong and transparent market…

Last year, when Chile’s President visited India, there was a push to CEPA negotiations. What is the status a year after the talks were launched?

We have been progressing, and we have been talking… Now we need to write these things and negotiate the elements that are missing. Maybe we can get this accomplished this year. But more important than speed is quality of what we do, because these agreements will be used as a framework to make investment decisions that are going to be around for 40-50 years.

How do you view India’s presence in Latin America?

India has a presence in Chile in building a power line that will connect the parts of Chile in the North. I have personal experiences in the past in computing services and software. We see the potential of India becoming a much more significant player in Chile, we have a similar structure in terms of how we organise our countries, in terms of rule of law and democracy. India is a very good partner.

Is there a big picture message after you met Jaishankar?

The most important message is we want not only you, but the world to “Choose Chile”… because we’re going to be a very reliable supplier of important goods like critical minerals, but also best quality food, fruits, vegetables, fish, pulp, paper. We also want to be a very good host for Indian human capital if you want to consider Chile as a possibility to serve at least the Western world (because of) our time zone.

How is Chile’s relationship with the US under President Trump, since your President has a similar worldview?

We want to have a good relationship with everybody, we want that foreign relations to be managed in the best interest of the Chilean people. And so in that regard, sometimes we have to put our political preferences and ideologies aside. The US has always been a traditional, strong partner of Chile… the US is the most important factory of human capital and high tech in the world. So, to a large extent, that means the US is the future, and we can’t walk away from our future… China is our most important trade partner. We will continue to trade extensively with China, and India should have a very important role in being a great partner, both for the present in terms of goods and services, but also for the future in terms of tech. The message is we’ll always work our foreign relations in the best interest of our people, and that implies a long-term view.