Meeting of the agri-food sector, logistics chain and distribution in the Chile and Spain markets

II Meeting of the Chile-Spain Business Council

The objective of the meeting was to present the policies and support tools implemented by the respective governments to confront the pandemic, as well as analyze the main challenges and opportunities in terms of sustainability, digitalization, internationalization and global value chains.

---

 

 

The Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism of the Government of Spain, Reyes Maroto and the Chilean Minister of Agriculture, Antonio Walker, they closed the II Meeting of the Chile-Spain Business Council, in which the opportunities, challenges and challenges in the agri-food sector, in the logistics chain and in distribution in both markets were analyzed. In the opening session, the co-presidents of said Council spoke, that is, the vice president of CEOE and president of CEPYME, Gerardo Cuerva, on the Spanish side; and the elected advisor of SOFOFA and director of the National Agricultural Society, Andres Montero, on the Chilean side.

 

El meeting, aimed at Chilean and Spanish businessmen with interests fundamentally in the agri-food sector, logistics and distribution in both countries (and in collaboration with third parties), its objective was to present the policies and support tools implemented by the respective governments to face the pandemic, as well as how to analyze the main challenges and opportunities in terms of sustainability, digitalization, internationalization and global value chains.

 

To address these issues in depth, the president of the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers (ASAJA) intervened, Pedro Barato; the economist and advisor of the National Agricultural Society, Jorge Quiroz; the general director of the Spanish Federation of Food and Beverage Industries (FIAB), Mauricio García de Quevedo; and the General Manager of Happag Lloyd Chile, Christian Seydewitz. On the other hand, the general director of Bodegas Torres (Spanish company), Miguel Torres and the general manager of Hortifruit SA (Chilean company), Juan Ignacio Allende, talked about the experience of their companies in both markets.

Opening

The president of the Spanish side of the Chile-Spain Business Council, vice president of CEOE and president of CEPYME, Gerardo Cuerva, recalled that since its reactivation act last June, the Council has not stopped working to represent business interests, expanding and deepening the economic and commercial relations between both countries. Raven He stressed that the pandemic has highlighted the importance of the agri-food, logistics and distribution sector and claimed the need for the Administrations to defend agro-industrial companies.

 

In fact, he continued, in the CBusiness Summit “Spanish Companies leading the future”, Held in June, the experts opted to enhance public-private collaboration in this sector, addressing issues such as the creation in the field of a public-private consortium that promotes and exports Spanish products.

 

El vice president of CEOE He also assured that it is essential that digitalization effectively reaches the agricultural world and insisted on the need to promote tax relief in the agri-food sector, as well as help lines to return to activity. In short, he stressed, special attention must be paid to the rural world and the food and beverage sector, since they are priority sectors, not only because of their work as an essential service during these months, but because of their weight in the GDP, in the creation of employment, in exports and in SMEs. In his speech, Cuerva took advantage of the occasion to convey a message from the ambassador of Spain in Chile, Enrique Ojeda, to show all its support to the Business Council, to the development of relations between both countries and its willingness to increase the opportunities present in key sectors, especially in the agri-food, logistics and distribution fields.

The president on the Chilean side, elective advisor of SOFOFA and director of the National Agricultural Society, Andrés Montero, He assured during the opening that Spain and Chile have privileged climates for agribusiness and the production of quality food, as well as adequate infrastructure to develop efficient logistics. “Different hemispheres allow us to complement a wide offer to satisfy demanding markets,” he said.

 

Huntsman He explained that Chilean wine and fruit have gained a relevant space in developed markets and highlighted that “we have a lot to share, we have many projects to carry out and together we would do it better.” Montero opted to increase investment in agribusiness, in complementary logistics and in irrigation works, so necessary to increase production; and work together in the search for innovative solutions to common problems, to ensure the production of products of the highest quality in a world that increasingly demands healthy and safe foods. “The future is ours, it depends on us,” he asserted.