President Piñera promotes cooperation on technological development with the Chinese government and businesses
Concluding his visit to China, the President highlighted, "we have reached great agreements with the Chinese Government, with whom we have many things in common. But we also have our differences and so our talks have been quite frank."
President Sebastián Piñera concluded his five-day visit to China on Sunday with a trip to Shenzhen, the global center of cutting-edge technological design, where he promoted cooperation and strategic alliances for technological development.
"Being able to find out firsthand what is and what will be the society of the future, the society of science and technology, the digital society, the green society, has been an extraordinarily unique opportunity," said the President of Chile, accompanied by First Lady Cecilia Morel, as they wound up a visit to the BYD transport company.
The President agreed with the authorities of Shenzhen to initiate discussions with a view to a partnership in science, technology, education and measures to combat climate change.
He also held a meeting with the heads of a dozen technology companies focused on innovation, artificial intelligence, robotics, telecommunications and cloud services. In the meeting, the President highlighted how the work of these companies will improve people’s quality of life with the implementation of new technologies such as the 5G network, digital interconnection or the development of smart cities.
The President invited Chinese companies to promote these technological developments in Chile.
He also toured the facilities of the BYD company, which specializes in the production of renewable energy-fueled vehicles, such as cars, buses and trains. In 2018, BYD delivered the first 100 electric buses to the city of Santiago, representing the biggest such fleet in the Americas.
This marked the conclusion of the President’s five-day visit to China in which he held high-level meetings with President Xi Jinping, government authorities and entrepreneurs from major companies, in order to deepen cooperation between the two nations in various strategic areas ranging from trade to science, and promoting Chinese investment in Chile.
Furthermore, the President of Chile promoted free trade, multilateralism and integration among countries in the "Belt and Road" forum, a Chinese initiative that brought together dozens of world leaders in Beijing to boost commercial exchange between Asia and the rest of the world, and to promote a greater integration of markets and the forging of new bridges between communities.
"We have come here with just one purpose in mind: to reach agreements that allow us to strengthen Chile's capacity to grow, to create jobs, to invest. And also to strengthen our capacity to improve the quality of life of all our citizens," emphasized the President.
"During this visit we have reached great agreements with the Chinese Government, with whom we have many things in common. But we also have our differences and so our talks have been quite frank," concluded the President."