Enterprise Florida, together with the Florida Chamber of Commerce visited Chile with a group of 16 businessmen from that state. AmCham offered a breakfast with Chilean counterparts, both willing to meet possible partners.  David Hart, Executive Vice President of the Florida Chamber of Commerce manages the Chamber’s extensive legislative and political operations and Manny Mencía, Vice President of International Trade Development at Enterprise Florida, Florida's official economic development organization explained to AmCham why Florida is an excellent state to do business with and a opening door to the US market.
Javier Irarrázaval, AmCham’s president stated during the meeting that “the importance of Florida for us is obvious. We share –more than any other state of the union- a very common culture. The Latin culture, the language, and, just as we share with the rest of the business community of the US, a common business culture.
Aside from this, Florida has a vigorous business, medical, and academic community that has been the opening doors for many Chileans who have started businesses in the US by first establishing themselves in Florida.  That’s the case of many Chilean universities, for example, that have started their internationalization process beginning in Florida.
Other facts about our commercial ties with Florida:
· · Its port and customs district has the biggest commercial traffic with Chile.
· · The state ranks second among US states in exports to Chile –mainly machinery and manufactures- and is the fifth state in amount of exports coming from Chile, mainly fish and copper, but also wine and blueberries (which have grown enormously in the last few years).
· · Last year, our bilateral trade reached 2.4 billion dollars (ranking second among US states in bilateral trade with Chile).

Source: AmCham Chile

What are the main goals you’re hoping to achieve after your visit?

Manny Mencia (MM): Chile is a very important partner for Florida. It is one of our top ten business partners, with a highly successful economy and an excellent long term growing potential. Also, it’s a country with which Florida has very strong historical ties.
Chile is a very good market for Floridas’s products and services. We’re a very strong supplier of technology for Chile, but not only of products of services, also knowledge based services.
On the other hand, Florida offers very big markets for Chilean products.  It is the entry point to the USA for a significant portions of Chilean exports, increasingly for Chilean fruits too.
There are natural and practical ties  that we feel make Florida an ideal place for Chilean companies that want to enter the US market.

How has the FTA changed or impacted the bilateral trade between this state and Chile?
David Hart: Statistics show that the trade increased exponientaly after the FTA came into effect. I think the this FTA is a model. From the Florida Chamber’s perspective it has been so successful, that were equally supportive of other FTA’s in the region based on that model, such as those of  Panama and Colombia.

What are the main advantages of Florida for Chilean companies?
MM: Florida has a high comparative advantage with Latin America. With respect of the connectivity, let me point out, that, for example, the port of Miami, handles over 80% of all air cargo between this continent and the US; in the telecommunications area, South Florida is the end point of most of the fiber optic cables that come from Latin America to the US. With respect to the international finance facilities, Miami is the second largest banking center, after New York. But most important of all, Florida offers soft infrastructure that include thousands of service providers or traders, that speak the language, know the Latin culture and know how to do business with Latin America.
On the other hand, we can help the Chilean companies because we also know the us market or the distribution channels. The  USA is, by far, the largest importer of products worldwide. Still, it is a very difficult market to penetrate for medium to small companies, it’s a complex market, a segmented market with many different distribution channels that most Latin American countries don’t know  well.

Any special market you think Chile should pay attention to?
There’s a tremendous opportunity to use Florida as a gateway for a variety of products that Chile does well. For example technology products, with special applications for the Latin or Hispanic population in universities. Just have in mind that the Hispanic population is the fastest growing in the country. technology.
Florida has more purchasing power than any Latin American country, with the exception of Brazil and maybe Mexico, and  there are  hundreds of companies that specialize in commercializing, placing and distributing  Latin American products.

How can you help Chileans invest in Florida?
DH: At the Florida Chamber we host a big annual summit in Orlando called the Future of Florida Summit. It’s a great opportunity for Chilean CEO’s to meet their counterparts and the representatives of the business community of Florida.
MM: Enterprise Florida offers free assistance in many fields. We help Florida’s companies export and help companies establish in the state. We can also help companies entering the US market meet the right partners, provide information and help them select the best geographical community for their company and business .

DH:  I had the opportunity to be with Governor Scott last week and informed him of this visit. He pointed out that Chile had one of the best business community climate in all the hemisphere. “You’re going to love it”, he said.  Governor Scott comes from the private sector, so he has the knowledge and the experience.
MM: The Chilean  miracle is well noun  in Florida. The business leadership of the state  is impressed with what Chile has been able to achieve. There’s is great admiration for Chile´s leadership. Chile is the country that everybody in the hemisphere could learn from . I think Latin America we be much more successful if they would do it, as you say, “a la chilena”.

Enterprise Florida, together with the Florida Chamber of Commerce visited Chile with a group of 16 businessmen from that state. AmCham offered a breakfast with Chilean counterparts, both willing to meet possible partners.  David Hart, Executive Vice President of the Florida Chamber of Commerce manages the Chamber’s extensive legislative and political operations and Manny Mencía, Vice President of International Trade Development at Enterprise Florida, Florida's official economic development organization explained to AmCham why Florida is an excellent state to do business with and a opening door to the US market.
Javier Irarrázaval, AmCham’s president stated during the meeting that “the importance of Florida for us is obvious. We share –more than any other state of the union- a very common culture. The Latin culture, the language, and, just as we share with the rest of the business community of the US, a common business culture.
Aside from this, Florida has a vigorous business, medical, and academic community that has been the opening doors for many Chileans who have started businesses in the US by first establishing themselves in Florida.  That’s the case of many Chilean universities, for example, that have started their internationalization process beginning in Florida.
Other facts about our commercial ties with Florida:
· · Its port and customs district has the biggest commercial traffic with Chile.
· · The state ranks second among US states in exports to Chile –mainly machinery and manufactures- and is the fifth state in amount of exports coming from Chile, mainly fish and copper, but also wine and blueberries (which have grown enormously in the last few years).
· · Last year, our bilateral trade reached 2.4 billion dollars (ranking second among US states in bilateral trade with Chile).

Source: AmCham Chile

What are the main goals you’re hoping to achieve after your visit?

Manny Mencia (MM): Chile is a very important partner for Florida. It is one of our top ten business partners, with a highly successful economy and an excellent long term growing potential. Also, it’s a country with which Florida has very strong historical ties.
Chile is a very good market for Floridas’s products and services. We’re a very strong supplier of technology for Chile, but not only of products of services, also knowledge based services.
On the other hand, Florida offers very big markets for Chilean products.  It is the entry point to the USA for a significant portions of Chilean exports, increasingly for Chilean fruits too.
There are natural and practical ties  that we feel make Florida an ideal place for Chilean companies that want to enter the US market.

How has the FTA changed or impacted the bilateral trade between this state and Chile?
David Hart: Statistics show that the trade increased exponientaly after the FTA came into effect. I think the this FTA is a model. From the Florida Chamber’s perspective it has been so successful, that were equally supportive of other FTA’s in the region based on that model, such as those of  Panama and Colombia.

What are the main advantages of Florida for Chilean companies?
MM: Florida has a high comparative advantage with Latin America. With respect of the connectivity, let me point out, that, for example, the port of Miami, handles over 80% of all air cargo between this continent and the US; in the telecommunications area, South Florida is the end point of most of the fiber optic cables that come from Latin America to the US. With respect to the international finance facilities, Miami is the second largest banking center, after New York. But most important of all, Florida offers soft infrastructure that include thousands of service providers or traders, that speak the language, know the Latin culture and know how to do business with Latin America.
On the other hand, we can help the Chilean companies because we also know the us market or the distribution channels. The  USA is, by far, the largest importer of products worldwide. Still, it is a very difficult market to penetrate for medium to small companies, it’s a complex market, a segmented market with many different distribution channels that most Latin American countries don’t know  well.

Any special market you think Chile should pay attention to?
There’s a tremendous opportunity to use Florida as a gateway for a variety of products that Chile does well. For example technology products, with special applications for the Latin or Hispanic population in universities. Just have in mind that the Hispanic population is the fastest growing in the country. technology.
Florida has more purchasing power than any Latin American country, with the exception of Brazil and maybe Mexico, and  there are  hundreds of companies that specialize in commercializing, placing and distributing  Latin American products.

How can you help Chileans invest in Florida?
DH: At the Florida Chamber we host a big annual summit in Orlando called the Future of Florida Summit. It’s a great opportunity for Chilean CEO’s to meet their counterparts and the representatives of the business community of Florida.
MM: Enterprise Florida offers free assistance in many fields. We help Florida’s companies export and help companies establish in the state. We can also help companies entering the US market meet the right partners, provide information and help them select the best geographical community for their company and business .

DH:  I had the opportunity to be with Governor Scott last week and informed him of this visit. He pointed out that Chile had one of the best business community climate in all the hemisphere. “You’re going to love it”, he said.  Governor Scott comes from the private sector, so he has the knowledge and the experience.
MM: The Chilean  miracle is well noun  in Florida. The business leadership of the state  is impressed with what Chile has been able to achieve. There’s is great admiration for Chile´s leadership. Chile is the country that everybody in the hemisphere could learn from . I think Latin America we be much more successful if they would do it, as you say, “a la chilena”.