The unprecedented virtual meeting, which replaced the Business Macro-round organized by ProChile, ProColombia, the Ministry of Economy of Mexico and PROMPERU, brought together 50 exporters from the four countries. It also closed with concrete business deals for US$1.5 million.
Between June 23 and July 2, the promotion entities of the member countries of the Pacific Alliance (ProChile, ProColombia, the Ministry of Economy of Mexico and PROMPERU), carried out for the first time since its creation an “e-Business Roundtable”, an opportunity in which they managed to connect 50 exporting companies with 24 importers from the United Kingdom.
Thanks to the 125 meetings held, the entrepreneurs achieved positive business results. They closed immediate business deals for US$ 1.5 million, and in turn a final projection for US$ 17 million for the next 12 months.
The priority sectors for this trade meeting were fresh fruit, nuts, specialty coffee, and cocoa and its derivatives, as well as honey and beverages.
The Director-General of ProChile, Jorge O’Ryan, expressed his satisfaction with this first virtual meeting organized jointly by the four countries. “As promotion agencies we are seeking to articulate our work to provide concrete support to our exporters, and thus mitigate the damage caused by COVID-19. In this sense, this first e-Roundtable is an important turn, passing our expertise to a virtual format, being able to generate enough confidence with the importers so that they can do business. Without a doubt, the result has exceeded our expectations with the amounts obtained”.
Similarly, the president of ProColombia, Flavia Santoro, indicated that “these good results with the United Kingdom encourage us to continue working towards intraregional economic reactivation. For the next two e-Roundtables, we also seek to achieve positive results with the countries of the bloc, the Central American countries and especially those in Asia, where we see great potential to increase non-mining energy exports from our countries”.
On the Mexican side, the head of the Global Economic Intelligence Unit of the Ministry of Economy, Dr. Sergio Silva, commented that “as the Pacific Alliance we must continue to take advantage of the opportunities that technological tools give us, adapting ourselves to the circumstances and seeking to maintain international trade during this juncture. With innovations such as this first e-Roundtable, we support the inclusion of companies in global markets, reducing costs and achieving diversification in export destinations”.
Finally, the executive president of PROMPERU, Luis Torres, highlighted the articulated work of the agencies at this juncture to provide virtual tools for trade promotion to exporting companies, mainly SMEs, and expressed the commitment to continue making the greatest effort to help them realize their internationalization projects, which will continue throughout the year, confident that they will have as good results as in this first e-Business Roundtable.
Pacific Alliance exports to the United Kingdom had an increase of 1.1% in 2019 compared to 2018, according to statistics provided by the Directorate of Studies of SUBREI – ProChile.
The e-Business Roundtables were born as a way to help the small and medium-sized exporting companies of the bloc that have been affected by the interruption of international trade due to COVID-19 and its advance around the world.
This activity was the first of three virtual business meetings organized by the promotion agencies of the Pacific Alliance and that will replace in 2020 its traditional Business Macro-round. The next ones will be held with Intralianza and Central American buyers, between August 11 and 21 – registrations for exporters are already open – and the last one with Asian importers for the month of September.
All information on dates and calls is available at the following link: https://www.prochile.gob.cl/difusion/varios/eRuedas-de-negocios-Alianza-Pacifico/index.html