Rodrigo Ballivián, AmCham’s new executive director, knows what it takes to go the distance. An enthusiastic runner, he has completed four marathons in the last decade: New York, Chicago, Berlin and London. While in training for his fifth in Boston on April 16, he was running 10 kilometers every day before work and 20km on weekends.

“Business is like a marathon, it’s half training and half mental,” says the Chilean executive.

Why do some countries sail ahead on a steady stream of economic growth while others flounder? Or, in other words, why do some middle-income countries poised - like Chile - on the threshold of development never quite make it?

This year bilateral trade between Chile and the United States is set to meet or surpass the record of US$20 billion set in 2008. The Free Trade Agreement, signed in 2003, is the main reason for the growth in trade, but behind the numbers are strong relationships between US and Chilean firms.

With Chile’s higher education system under scrutiny, the United States has much to offer as a model for how universities and companies can work together to provide opportunities for graduates and produce ground-breaking research.

En momentos en que el sistema de educación superior de Chile está bajo la lupa, Estados Unidos tiene mucho que ofrecer como un modelo sobre la manera en que universidades y empresas pueden trabajar juntas para entregar oportunidades para los titulados y generar investigación innovadora.

Cuando el presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, visitó Chile en marzo, destacó la importancia para ambos países de la cooperación bilateral respecto de la energía y el medio ambiente. Junto con el presidente de Chile, Sebastián Piñera, anunció planes para profundizar la cooperación en materia de energías limpias, seguridad energética y cambio climático. Estos incluyen acuerdos del sector público que permitirán que Chile se beneficie del acceso a científicos e instalaciones de investigación en Estados Unidos en áreas como energías renovables.

When President Obama visited Chile in March, he highlighted the importance for both countries of bilateral cooperation on energy and the environment. Together with President Piñera, he announced plans for deeper cooperation on clean energy, energy security and climate change. These include public sector agreements that will allow Chile to benefit from access to US research facilities and scientists in areas like renewable energy. The two countries are also working on multilateral initiatives such as the Energy and Climate Partnership for the Americas.

Juan Antonio Peribonio, director of Chile’s National Consumer Service (SERNAC), has had a busy few weeks. It was, after all, SERNAC that blew the whistle on the La Polar department store chain’s unilateral ‘renegotiation’ of customers’ debts and it is still coping with a huge number of people flocking to its main office, just across the road from the La Moneda presidential palace, as well as its other offices around the country, to ascertain their rights.

Juan Antonio Peribonio, director del Servicio Nacional del Consumidor (SERNAC) de Chile, ha tenido algunas semanas ocupadas.

Chile’s banking system is at a crossroads. Banks have recovered from the financial crisis and strong economic growth is driving profits. At the same time, however, the government has accused them of abusive practices, including high interest rates on consumer loans, and has promised to create a new financial consumer watchdog.