Chile stands by green transformation – President Boric visits Berlin
With its wealth of critical raw materials such as copper and lithium, Chile is increasingly becoming an internationally sought-after partner. It is no coincidence that the Andean country received record foreign investment of more than 20 billion dollars last year. However, cooperation with Germany remains at the top of the agenda, as Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s visit to Berlin today made clear.
Together with his ministers Nicolás Grau (Economy) and Diego Pardow (Energy) and a high-ranking business delegation, he met with representatives from German politics and business at the German-Chilean Business Forum. The talks focused on cooperation in the field of critical raw materials and renewable energies.
President Boric emphasized that the green transformation of the Chilean economy is a priority for his government. And the process is opening up new business opportunities for companies from mining to energy production and digitalization.
The reduction of bureaucracy, more efficient approval procedures and an agreement to avoid double taxation are among the most frequently requested improvements to investment and business conditions by companies. However, the discussions gave hope: the Chilean government is currently investing in increasing the number of staff and training them in order to improve the situation until the legislation can be adapted.
The world’s first commercially integrated plant for the production of climate-neutral fuel has become a reality thanks to bilateral cooperation between Chile and Germany. In the Haru Oni project, wind energy is used to produce green hydrogen. This is combined with CO2 filtered from the air to produce synthetic methanol, which in turn is converted into eFuel using a power-to-methanol plant installed by Siemens Energy and others. This success story now needs to be multiplied.
