Imagine you’re in a supermarket. You’re browsing the shelves for a product – let’s say breakfast cereal. You compare prices. You might be drawn to one brand over another because of its name, reputation or packaging. You choose your cereal, drop it into your shopping cart and move on.

Chile’s goal of becoming a developed country by 2020, which means raising per capita GDP to US$23,000 from US$15,000 currently, seems like climbing Mount Everest. It is a long way off and getting there will take hard work and commitment. But Chile is well-equipped to make the climb, says Hernán Cheyre, executive vice-president of Chile’s Economic Development Agency, CORFO.

The state of Massachusetts in the northeastern United States doesn’t have oil, gas, coal or corn – its main natural resource is brain power. Home to Harvard University and many other universities and colleges all within a 90 minute drive of the state capital Boston, it has the highest concentration of higher education in the country.

With global economic uncertainty continuing to cause volatility in commodities prices and Chile’s state-owned copper company Codelco facing a drawn-out legal dispute with Anglo American, you might expect Codelco’s CEO, Diego Hernández, to be concerned.

But Hernández, a former BHP Billiton executive named as Codelco’s chief executive in April 2010 to lead the company’s resurgence, appeared relaxed and even optimistic at an AmCham breakfast on November 30.

As 2011 draws to a close there are substantial risks in the global economy that Chile cannot afford to ignore. These are focused in Europe, but the fallout from the debt crisis in that continent could have important repercussions for emerging economies next year and beyond.

 “The world has changed significantly during 2011,” said José de Gregorio, president of Chile’s Central Bank, at an AmCham breakfast in September.

Chile’s main economic indicators give Chilean companies every reason to be optimistic about the future, but according to Lorenzo Constans, president of the Confederation for Production and Commerce (CPC), there is a danger that internal and external threats could undermine Chile’s long-term growth.

Los principales indicadores económicos de Chile dan a las empresas del país sudamericano toda la razón para estar optimistas sobre el futuro, pero a juicio de Lorenzo Constans, presidente de la Confederación de la Producción y del Comercio (CPC), existe el peligro de que las amenazas internas y externas puedan socavar el crecimiento de largo plazo de Chile.

Los principales indicadores económicos de Chile dan a las empresas del país sudamericano toda la razón para estar optimistas sobre el futuro, pero a juicio de Lorenzo Constans, presidente de la Confederación de la Producción y del Comercio (CPC), existe el peligro de que las amenazas internas y externas puedan socavar el crecimiento de largo plazo de Chile.

Cuando la fruta chilena se carga en un barco con destino a la costa Este de Estados Unidos, es posible que se dirija al puerto de Wilmington en el estado de Delaware. El puerto, a dos horas de viaje por tierra desde Nueva York, es un poderoso motor económico para el estado en parte gracias a las importaciones de fruta y químicos de especialidad desde Chile, las que han creado cerca de 650 empleos en el estado.

When Chilean fruit is loaded on a ship bound for the US Eastern Seaboard, chances are it is headed to the Port of Wilmington in the state of Delaware. The port, which is a short two-hour drive from New York, is a powerful economic engine for the state partly thanks to imports of Chilean fruit and specialty chemicals which have created around 650 jobs there.