After the change of command, various unions have issued statements welcoming the Government of Gabriel Boric, an instance in which they also took the opportunity to convey what they expect from the new administration, concerns in some matters and some requests.
The Association of Metallurgical and Metalworking Industries (ASIMET) He assured that one of the main tasks that the new government will have to assume will be to make Chile an attractive country for investment.
“President Gabriel Boric’s greatest challenge will be to make Chile a reliable country in the face of an international scenario of absolute instability,” said the union’s president, Dante Arrigoni.
Regarding the economic team, Arrigoni pointed out three factors that they will have to face: “The pandemic, which is not yet under control, the war in Ukraine, whose outcome and repercussions are still unknown, and an internal political scenario that is generating uncertainties, with a Constituent Convention that is moving away from its origin, which was to draft a Constitution by consensus, where all opinions were heard,” he stressed.
Along the same lines, the union leader recalled that two of the priorities are a tax reform that aims to collect 5% of GDP, “an objective that we see as very demanding in a declining economy and with inflation that cannot be controlled. And, for On the other hand, the reduction of the working day, an initiative that is not consistent with our current levels of productivity”, indicated the president of ASIMET.
Despite the foregoing, Arrigoni was confident that the experience and trajectory of the team led by the Minister of Finance, Mario Marcel, “will allow changes to be made gradually and grounded in our reality, as we also hope that his management will launch a Industrial Strategy for Chile, which we are sure will be the key to reactivating the country, not only in the current circumstances, but also for future generations.”
SalmonChile
Arturo Clement, president of SalmonChileindicated that they are available to work collaboratively from the first day with the new authorities and establish dialogues that include their productive sector, the 4,000 SMEs that are part of their productive chain, the 70,000 collaborators and all the communities with which they work. join the guild.
“Together we can contribute to the development of a sustainable and modern aquaculture, which projects our sector and allows us to continue developing the southern zone of the country. We must work together with the interest groups in a vision that makes the development of the activity compatible with the needs of the territory and the environment, overcoming the gaps with concrete actions and taking the advantages that Chile has to be a benchmark in aquaculture,” added Clément.
Chilean Association of Gastronomy
From the Chilean Association of Gastronomy (Achiga)its president, Máximo Picallo, pointed out that “as a sector, we seek to be active protagonists in the social and economic development of the country at this stage and strengthen public-private work to carry out those priorities for Chile and our sector.”
Likewise, they reiterated their willingness to collaborate and work together, “especially to manage the pandemic that allows us to start the reactivation and function with our maximum capacity, maintaining preventive health protection measures against Covid. We need operating restrictions and capacity are eliminated and left behind, as many countries have done today, especially considering that currently 93% of the population is inoculated against the coronavirus.The new approach must be preventive and not restrictive.
“It seems essential to us that the necessary conditions are created to be able to work and do it safely, decisively confronting the violence installed in some sectors, which greatly affects our business,” Picallo added.
Federation of Tourism Companies
Similarly, Ricardo Margulis, president of the Federation of Tourism Companies of Chile (Fedetur) He stated that “we have delivered to the incoming government a work plan with measures to reactivate tourism activity, so that we can return to pre-pandemic levels, generate the 113,000 jobs that we still cannot recover from the 650,000 direct jobs provided by the sector, and continue to be an engine of social and economic development for the country and its regions”.
In this sense, Margulis expressed that “for our industry it is essential to deepen the public-private alliance for the benefit and development of tourism, in a stage that will be crucial, because this year we need to start a delayed reactivation, after two and a half years of a deep crisis that continues to affect us. For us, it is key to reactivate receptive tourism and eliminate the obstacles to entering the country, since it will be the only way to stand up. We hope that our proposals will be accepted”.
Energy Transmitters
The executive director of the Association of Power TransmittersJavier Tapia, pointed out that “the role of the State is fundamental, because it must lead the adequate planning of a safe and resilient system, which responds to the growing needs for electrification that the country requires. We share the vision of a sustainable and capable energy sector to live in harmony with the communities and their surroundings”.
“We will be active collaborators to face the demanding challenges that are presented to us, where the priority must be to strengthen transmission to urgently advance in the decarbonization plan. Our commitment is to work with the highest technical, social and environmental standards, so that the projects are valued by the citizens”, concluded Tapia.
Chilean Chamber of Construction
Antonio Errazuriz, president of the Chilean Chamber of Constructiondeclared that “during this new period, we hope that the authorities ensure the well-being and unity of Chileans, promoting dialogue and consensus, the only tools that will allow us to solve urgent social problems and also in the necessary economic reactivation.”
“We wish the best of success to President Gabriel Boric, his cabinet and the new senators and deputies who today assume great responsibilities and challenges to continue building, together, a better country. We express our willingness to collaborate in this regard”, announced the union executive.
Chilean North American Chamber of Commerce
AmCham Chile welcomed the new government and expressed the willingness of the Chile-United States Chamber of Commerce and Business to work with his administration and the new Congress, “building bridges between the public and private sectors in order to jointly address the challenges that will allow us to advance towards a sustainable and integral development for the country”.
As representatives of the largest foreign direct investment in Chile, we highlight the strength of the country’s institutions and its deep sense of democracy, values that we share with the United States and that have been reflected in the change of command made today in the National Congress,” they argued in a statement.
“We will continue promoting a vision of doing business, in which the success of companies translates into the generation of value for all people and is the result of actions that put sustainability, transparency, diversity and inclusion first”, they added from the Chamber.