President Bachelet: “Foreign investment plays an important role in a globally open economy like Chile’s”
During a ceremony at La Moneda Palace this morning, President Michelle Bachelet signed the decree to enact the framework law for a new institutional structure for foreign investment.
Referring to the context in which the new legislation is being introduced, the President confirmed that “the doors of the Chilean economy are wide open and we welcome foreign firms that contribute to the development of our nation through their knowledge, technology and ideas.”
She reiterated this by highlighting that “there are important advantages to investing in Chile. Chile’s positioning as a serious, globally open and responsibly managed economy, as a country that links the Pacific basin and Latin America, give us almost unsurpassable advantages in terms of foreign firms deciding to do business in our country.”
Explaining the aim of the new law in more detail, the President noted that “Foreign investment plays an important role in a globally open economy like Chile’s. We must therefore make every effort to uphold and accelerate this trend.” She added that “foreign investment plays a significant role in revitalizing, diversifying and generating value in our economy and the exports we offer. It creates jobs for Chileans, it is beneficial in terms of technology transfer and it helps promote new standards relating to best practice and competitivity within our corporate culture.”
The President explained the four pillars of the new law. The first is aimed at attracting more and better foreign investment to Chile that will have a strategic and lasting impact. The second is the creation of a modern legal framework that consolidates the guarantees offered by Chile through its Constitution and the international agreements to which it is a signatory. The third is a transitory regime to avoid any problems for foreign investors resulting from the changes to the legal framework, which means that for the next four years contracts can be signed in accordance with the previous legislation. The fourth pillar is the creation a new Agency to attract foreign investment which will be funded and staffed to provide services that meet OECD standards.
President Bachelet added that the law enacted today will supplement the measures that “have already been introduced as part of the Productivity, Innovation and Growth Agenda which includes a series of incentives to attract more foreign investment.
She also noted that “this legal and institutional framework is a real opportunity for Chile to attract the best projects associated with greater productivity, greater innovation, greater diversification and added value, more sustainability and cooperative relationships between the State, communities and businesses.”
President Bachelet emphasized that Chile had needed to modernize its foreign direct investment legislation as the previous law, Decree Law Nº 600 from 1974, was no longer able to meet current demands.
She added that “today Chile is finally up-to-date in this matter, because the law we are enacting gives us exactly the type of legal and institutional framework that will incentivize and promote more and better foreign investment in our country. And the reason we are doing this is because my government firmly believes in the important contribution that private investment makes to our country’s development and the generation of wealth for Chile.”