Left to right: Brian Wilson, Carlos Alvarez, Mateo Budinich, Miguel Perez. Photos by Wade Caldwell.

Jorge Fernandez (right) presents books about Atlanta to Mariano Fernandez (left) and Hugo Lavados.

A delegation of 15 Chilean information technology companies and four economic development agencies in Atlanta for the Americas Competitiveness Forum held a seminar promoting their country at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Aug. 20.

There was a large Chilean presence at the Aug. 17-19 gathering of Western Hemisphere government and business officials and the 2009 forum will be held in Santiago, Chile’s capital.

The first forum bringing together leaders from North and South America and the Caribbean was held in Atlanta to examine regional competitiveness in 2007. 

The city hosted the forum again in 2008, but it is to move to Santiago for 2009 at the Chilean government’s request and to establish a tradition of moving the forum to different cities in the region.

Diane Alleva Cáceres, managing director of Atlanta-based trade consulting firm Market Access International Inc., told GlobalAtlanta that the companies are interested in several different possibilities for operating in the Southeast.

Some of the companies are looking at technologies developed in Georgia that they could sell in South America, while others want to promote their products in the U.S. market.  Others are promoting Chile as an outsourcing destination for U.S. firms.

“They looked at Atlanta as the hub of the Southeast, and felt it would be a good second-tier city to consider in terms of a long-term relationship,” Ms. Alleva Cáceres said, adding that outsourcing to Chile might be particularly attractive because the country is closer to the U.S. than other offshore destinations like China and India.

Nicolo Gligo, executive director for the U.S. at the Chilean Economic Development Agency, or Corfo, said that the Atlanta chamber and the Georgia Department of Economic Development have been supportive of Chilean businesses locating here.

“Atlanta and Georgia have been very proactive to promote themselves as a gateway to Latin America,” he said, adding that Delta Air Lines Inc. operates a direct flight between the Georgia capital and Santiago.

Corfo hosted the event in partnership with the Chilean Association of IT Companies, or ACTI, the Chilean American Chamber of Commerce in Santiago, the Chilean Embassy in the U.S., and the Chilean Trade Commission, or ProChile.

Hugo Lavados, Chile’s economic minister was in town for the competitiveness forum and spoke at the seminar.  He later told GlobalAtlanta that though his country’s exports are mostly agriculture, IT is a sector he is eager to promote.

Mariano Fernández, Chilean ambassador to the U.S. also spoke, as did Ken Stewart, chairman of Georgia’s department of economic development.

Walter Bastian, the Commerce Department’s deputy assistant secretary for the Western Hemisphere, was responsible for organizing the Americas Competitiveness Forums in Atlanta for the past two years.  He discussed Chile’s global competitiveness at the seminar, noting the country has more free trade agreements than any other at 57.

Other speakers included Carlos Alvarez, Corfo’s executive vice president; Mateo Budinich, president of the Chilean American chamber, Jorge Fernandez, the Atlanta chamber president Miguel Pérez, ACTI’s president and Brian Wilson, head of the Chile desk at the Georgia economic developement department.

Two American businesspeople spoke about their companies’ experiences operating in Chile.  Delta Air Lines Inc. operates a call center for all of its Latin American operations.  Mary Smith, the company’s general manager of international reservations sales, spoke at the seminar. 

Allan Metts, president and CEO of Atlanta-based IT company Arcato Global LLC, talked about his firm’s experience outsourcing to Chile.

The companies participating in the seminar were:

Beyond Technologies Chile S.A. – Technology, software and telecommunications importer.

Coasin – An IT outsourcing company.

Eworks Consulting – A software development company for training and maintenance.

Excelsys – A banking software developer.

Adexus – A hardware and software distributer.

Digevo Group – Telecommunications software developer.        

i-Education Holdings – Developer of MiClase School, a teaching software.

Genera S.A. – A developer of business software for a number of different industries.        

GSur S.A. – A business processing outsourcing company.

Kr Consulting – An IT consulting company and re-seller of business software applications.        

GENESYS Ltda. – A medical device and software developer.

NCS – A telecommunications software provider.

Netred S.A. – An online business software developer.

NovaRed S.A. – A security and technical support software developer.

PuntoCom S.A. – A business processes consultant and outsourcing company.