Press releases

ITC and ProChile to work together to promote the internationalization of Chilean SMEs

3 March 2015
ITC News
ITC and Chile’s trade promotion organization signed an MoU today in Santiago

ITC Executive Director Arancha González and Andres Rebolledo, the head of the Directorate-General for International Economic Relations (DIRECON) within Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, today signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to strengthen the export promotion services provided by ProChile, the country’s trade and investment promotion agency.

The agreement aims to improve the organization’s institutional strength and operational effectiveness.

Ms. González explained that ITC would use its proven benchmarking methodology to comprehensively assess the performance of ProChile, compare it to global best practices for trade promotion organizations, identify its strengths and weaknesses, and come up with a plan for improvement.

ProChile has a long history of promoting international trade in Chile. With our experience, we can help strengthen this institution so that it can better serve Chilean exporters, especially Chile’s vibrant SMEs, to internationalize,’ she said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Rebolledo noted that ProChile, which today has a network of over 50 offices in major international markets, had been taking on the challenge of supporting small and medium-sized Chilean exporters. ‘This collaboration with the International Trade Centre will be very important to meet the goal set by the government of President [Michelle] Bachelet’, he added.

ProChile Director Roberto Paiva emphasized that ITC was a long-term partner for his organization, and had even played an active technical support role in its creation 44 years ago. ‘It is very important that four decades on, we have an opportunity to renew cooperation, this time to better support small and medium enterprises,’ he said.

Mr. Paiva expressed hope that ITC and ProChile would "formalize a partnership to generate synergies and carry out activities that benefit both organizations." He suggested that this partnership could cover sharing best practices in areas such as business intelligence, market research, market linkages, sector-specific initiatives, and general issues related to trade promotion and trade policy.