Ambassador Mariano Fernandez visit to Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina.
February 20th- 23rd
During three days, Chilean Ambassador Mariano Fernandez visited South Carolina (Charleston and Columbia).The objective of the Ambassador's trip to SC was to introduce him and create posibilities of tightening bonds between South Carolina and Chile and Chile, specifically in areas such as commerce, cultural interchange, scholarships opportunities for Chilean students in local universities, and transport offered by the Port of Charleston. The Ambassador met SC Governor Mark Sanford, the SC Secretary of Commerce Fred Taylor, and the Director of the Division of International Businesses, Clarke Thompson. As result of the meeting it is possible that a businesses SC mission goes to Chile next year.
Ambassador Mariano Fernández and South Carolina Governor, Mark Sanford.
Monday, February 25th
Ambassador Mariano Fernandez of the Embassy of Chile in Washington visited Charleston on Friday and said during a stop at the College of Charleston that the bilateral trade agreement between his country and the United States benefits both nations.
Speaking to students and business people as part of the South Carolina World Trade Center's Embassy Series, Fernandez said the split between the value of goods exported from the U.S. to Chile and those imported from the South American country that hugs the continent's west coast is almost even.
About $9 billion worth of goods are sent to Chile each year from U.S. manufacturers, mostly agricultural machinery and engine parts, and about $7.5 billion worth comes in the opposite direction, usually in the form of wood and paper products and cases of Chile's famous wines.
Since Chile and the U.S. reached the free trade agreement in 2003, trade between the two countries has increased 200 percent.
Last year, exports from the U.S. to Chile soared 30 percent, Fernandez said.
"And we're working hard to improve and grow this relationship," he said. "That shows the free trade agreement is not just good for the country that signed it, but also for the U.S. itself."
Last year Chile exported 3,500 different products worldwide worth $70 billion.
In terms of container volume, Chile ranks as the State Ports Authority's 13th-largest customer for imports and exports combined.
The equivalent of nearly 30,000 20-foot-long containers moved between the two countries during the SPA's last fiscal year that ended June 30.
That's good volume for a country of just 16 million people.