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Arturo Fermandois, Ambassador to the United States

Nine months is a long time, as every mother knows, but for Arturo Fermandois, Chile’s Ambassador to the United States, the time has flown since he presented his credentials to President Obama on June 28. Chile celebrated its Bicentennial last September during the same month that President Piñera visited California, and the following month there was the dramatic rescue of the 33 miners in Copiapó, in which a U.S. drilling team played a key role. Then, in March, President Obama visited Chile for the first time.

The Chilean Embassy was involved in all these events, but Ambassador Fermandois, a constitutional law expert with a Masters from Harvard University, has not lost sight of his goals when he was appointed by President Piñera last year. The Ambassador spoke to bUSiness CHILE from Washington DC about his achievements so far and the challenges ahead.

Ambassador, when we last spoke you were about to leave for Washington, has it been all you expected?

It has been more than I expected on all accounts. There were a series of meaningful events that shaped my first nine months, including the Bicentennial in September, then the very fruitful visit by President Piñera to New York and California, and then the rescue of the miners, which was a huge deal in the U.S. and particularly here in DC. The embassy helped bring technology from a company in Pennsylvania to Copiapó and it ended up being the crucial drill in Plan B, so we were very happy with that. We also hosted a party on Massachusetts Avenue in front of the Embassy in October to which hundreds of people showed up including 11 TV stations. It was one of the best nights of my life and an incredible moment of joy and partnership with the U.S.

The other unforgettable moment was the visit of President Obama to Chile, which was a powerful sign of partnership with the U.S. and included the signing of seven agreements in areas including education, entrepreneurship, the environment, culture and energy. These agreements will strengthen our relationship through concrete measures.

Last year, you said one of your goals would be helping more Chileans develop their English language skills, have you achieved this?

In the case of English education, I am happy because we have made some progress: Chile signed an agreement with the State department, through the Fulbright Commission, to send more and better quality teachers to public schools in Chile. We succeeded in bringing the issue to the table and got commitments from Chile’s Minister of Education, Joaquin Lavín, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alfredo Moreno. We also secured funding this year to send American teachers to the first 30 public schools selected as Liceos de Excelencia (Public Schools of Excellence). I’m partially satisfied because now there is awareness in the government about what needs to be done, but I won’t be completely satisfied until this goal is completely achieved.

You also said that you wanted the “ordinary Chilean” to be able to take advantage of Chile’s close relationship with the U.S. Has this happened?

There are two things I am satisfied with. Firstly, there is a new training agreement between the U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) and Chile’s export promotion arm, ProChile. We put these two parties together and negotiated an agreement, which ProChile’s director and the U.S. Ambassador signed on March 18. This agreement will identify training opportunities for workers from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in both countries. Chilean workers will come to work in select U.S. companies for up to six months with their salary paid by the Chilean company and partially subsidized by the government. The agreement also allows U.S. workers to work in leading Chilean firms in areas such as mining, wine and salmon. This agreement is focused on ordinary working Chileans - we’re not looking for CEOs. The idea was enthusiastically taken up by both parties and I’m excited to have the opportunity to put it into practice soon.

The second initiative is to get Chile admitted into the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Meeting the requirements could take two years, but we believe it will benefit the regular Chilean citizen while having a significant impact on tourism, cultural exchanges and work opportunities. The main requirements are in the exchange of information including agreements on crime and terrorism. We have already negotiated with the Department of Homeland Security the first of these documents called “Preventing and Combatting Serious Crimes,” which should be signed shortly.

The other two requirements are a fully biometric passport, which we are close to having, and a reduced visa rejection rate, which must go down to 3 percent after falling to 5.1 percent in 2010 from 5.9 percent in 2009. Since the Chilean economy is growing and there are more jobs with better salaries, the visa rejection rate should continue to fall. In a couple of years, we think Chile will be in a position to be the first Latin American country admitted to the Visa Waiver system, which means belonging to a prestigious group of countries. If we succeed in this, the number of trips by Chileans to the U.S. annually – around 160,000 – is expected to double.

Speaking of visas, are the special visas available for Chilean professionals being used?

Our FTA with the U.S. provides for 1,400 special visas for Chileans to work in the U.S., but we aren’t using them. Only a small number are used each year and a goal of this Embassy is to promote these visas and make it easier for Chileans to come to the U.S.

Protecting intellectual property remains a challenge in fulfilling the terms of the FTA, has there been progress in this area?

Significant progress has been made in terms of putting the differences between the USTR and Chile’s international trade office, Direcon, on the table and agreeing on how to resolve them. There has been concrete action with at least three visits from Chile to the U.S. and vice versa, and the creation of an inter-ministerial committee. Some international intellectual property treaties that were pending have also been passed by Congress and will be enacted soon. In terms of protection for pharmaceutical patents, a key issue between our two countries, an important announcement will be made by the Foreign Minister in the near future.

When you left Chile, you had to leave your band Rockasaurios behind, have you found a new band to play with?

I miss Rockasaurios, but I have had two acoustic opportunities in DC - I was invited to play at a party by some Ambassadors, and we ended up playing the guitar and singing until 4am. I have been too busy to play in a band, but I certainly miss my music.

Julian Dowling is editor of bUSiness CHILE