Rodrigo Ballivián, AmCham; Mitch Larsen and Ana María Ferrer, US Embassy; Andrés Allamand, Minister of Defense; Paulina Dellafiori, AmCham; Jorge Rojas, Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Air Force, and US Ambassador Alejandro Wolff.

AmCham participated in Latin America’s largest annual aviation event, the International Air and Space Fair (FIDAE), held in Santiago on March 27-April 1.

On March 19, in a ceremony at the Gabriela Mistral Cultural Center in Santiago, Columbia University’s President Lee C. Bollinger officially opened the university’s new Global Center in Chile. The ceremony was attended by Columbia alumni and deans of Chilean universities among other guests.

Chilean human resources consultancy Alto Impacto has signed an agreement with AmCham to offer employees of member companies discounted prices on events and workshops.

For more information contact Julieta Collino, tel. 434-5369, jcollino@altoimpacto.com

AmCham’s President Javier Irarrázaval, Executive Director Rodrigo Ballivián, and former Executive Director Jaime Bazán, met with US Ambassador Alejandro Wolff at the US Embassy in early March to discuss progress in key areas of cooperation.

Topics included the Global Business Conference hosted by the US State Department in Washington, DC in February, which was attended by Irarrázaval, as well as a proposed amendment to Chile’s Industrial Property Law that would better protect US pharmaceutical patents.

On March 8, Chile’s new ambassador to the United States, Felipe Bulnes, was invited to lunch at AmCham with US Ambassador Alejandro Wolff. Ambassador Bulnes took over from Arturo Fermandois as head of the Chilean Embassy in Washington DC on April 1.

The lunch was attended by AmCham President Javier Irarrázaval and Executive Director Rodrigo Ballivián along with some of the Chamber’s directors.

On March 22, Dr. Eva Pell and Dr. Charles Alcock of the Smithsonian, the world's largest museum and research complex in Washington DC, gave a presentation at AmCham on the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) being installed in the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile’s Coquimbo Region.

The telescope is comprised of seven mirrors, each 8.4 meters in diameter, which will work together like a single mirror with the resolving power of a telescope 25 meters in diameter.

Jaime Bazán, AmCham; Patricia Zuanic, Deloitte; Patricia Herrera, National Prosecutor’s Office; Fernando Arab, Morales & Besa and Carolina Valdivieso, president of the Labor and Human Resources Committee

James Williams, US Embassy; Javier Irarrázaval, AmCham; Governor Deval Patrick, Massachusetts and Ambassador Alejandro Wolff, US Embassy

On December 5, a group of members and AmCham representatives visited Agrosuper’s Rosario meat processing facility in the city of Rancagua as part of the Chamber’s Open House program. 

Carlos Andrés Vives, deputy director of corporate affairs at Agrosuper, gave a presentation about the company, which produces pork, poultry and other meat products. Of its total production, 60% is sold domestically and 40% is exported, mainly to Japan, China and Korea.