The Council expressed its concern at the level of misrepresentation of the scope, commitments and implications for the country of the CPTPP, which civil society actors have sought to install as truths, delivered openly misleading and false information to confuse citizens. The trade union representatives referred to some of the myths that have been raised, such as those relating to seeds, state sovereignty, commitments to the environment, among others.
“TPP 11 is comprised of 11 economies (Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Peru, Mexico and Chile) representing 13 of global GDP and 502 million potential consumers. It is the third largest free trade agreement in the world, opening up new opportunities for more than 3,000 Chilean products,” said Claudio Cilveti, president of SOFOFA’s Food ExportIng Council.
In the discussion, the members of the Export Council agreed to reject the protectionism and trade war that today affects world trade, and reaffirmed their commitment to Chile’s trade policy, open to the world.
Manuel José Prieto, International Director of SOFOFA, unveiled the guild’s vision. “We want this agreement to be approved, because in addition to the gains in access to relevant markets in strategic countries in the Asia Pacific region, it considers a set of rules that favor the Chilean economy as a whole. From that perspective, our call is for this agreement to be approved promptly in the Senate.”
This call occurs at a time when domestic exports have fallen by 5.9 compared to the first half of 2018, which has generated much concern not only in the government, but also in the export sector.
The activity was attended by the members of the Food Export Council of SOFOFA, Claudio Cilveti, general manager of Vinos de Chile; Juan Carlos Domínguez, President of ChileCarne; Andrés Rodríguez, Executive Director Chile Prunes; Arturo Clément, president of SalmonChile; Guillermo Iturrieta, Executive Chairman of ExporLac; Pamela González, interim manager of ChileOliva; Sergio Maureira, general secretary of ASOEX and Manuel José Prieto, International Director of SOFOFA.
On the export sector
The food export sector is the country’s second largest post-mining sector. US$18,619 million was exported in 2018, representing 53 of non-mining exports. This figure is projected to reach $32 billion by 2025.
The Undersecretariat for International Economic Relations published an explanatory document on the benefits of this agreement, which can be downloaded here.