Since Chile’s Free Trade Agreement with the United States came into force in 2004, exports have grown significantly. Exports reached US$7.12 billion in the period January-September 2011, up 34% from the same period of 2010, as exports have largely recovered from the 2008/09 global economic crisis.

Chile is blessed with an abundance of natural resources. From its fertile agricultural land to its extensive Pacific coastline and, especially, its vast mineral deposits in the north, this long sliver of South America produces raw materials that countries not so well endowed need to build new cities and feed their populations.

Chilean exports are on the rise. Last year, the country exported US$71 billion worth of goods, up 31.5% from 2009. Exports during the first eleven months of 2011 totaled US$74 billion, up 17% from the same period of last year.

But while the value of Chilean exports is growing, the basket of products the country exports is actually shrinking. According to figures from Chile’s industrial association SOFOFA, the number of products Chile exports has fallen steadily from 5,302 in 2005 to 4,938 in 2010.

Fernando Fischmann never set out to become an innovator - he had no choice. A biochemist by training, Fischmann was working as a real estate developer in 1997 when he found beachfront property on Chile’s central coast with one major drawback: the water was so treacherous that swimming was prohibited. So Fischmann teamed up with a local tech firm to create a three-hectare lagoon that would double as the Caribbean for Chilean second-home buyers.

Las exportaciones chilenas están en alza. El año pasado, el país exportó bienes por un monto de US$71.000 millones, un 31,5% más que en el 2009. Las exportaciones durante los 11 primeros meses del 2011 sumaron un total de US$74.000 millones, un alza del 17% frente al mismo período del año pasado.