President Bachelet reaches an agreement with the Global Services Cluster on measures to accelerate the industry's growthPublished: October 13, 2009
To support the country's economic revival, the President and representatives of companies from the offshoring sector have endorsed a series of measures to optimize the development of the local industry.
President Bachelet has begun a series of meetings with representatives from Chile's main productive clusters. The aim is to identify the challenges which each sector faces and resolve the issues that could obstruct their development.
The first of these meetings was with the global services cluster. Representatives from the cluster met with the President at La Moneda palace in order to present a summary of the industry's progress over recent years and an analysis of the challenges that threaten its expansion. As a result, the President agreed to an agenda of specific actions to facilitate the installation and operation of new companies in Chile, as well as to help develop those firms already located in the country. These initiatives will come in addition to those measures that are already in place.
Mining Minister, Santiago González, also attended the meeting, along with the Executive Vice-President of the Chilean Economic Development Agency (CORFO), Carlos Álvarez, who heads the global services cluster committee. Attending on behalf of the cluster were: President of ACTI, Miguel Pérez; Director of Oracle's Global Support Centre, Sacha Bocic; Evaluserve's national manager, Mohit Srivastava; and Head of the Engineering Faculty at the Universidad de Chile, Hernán de Solminihac, among others.
At the meeting, the growing importance of global services was highlighted. With exports expected to exceed US$1 billion next year - similar to those of wine - the sector will become a source of highly-skilled jobs for some 35,000 professionals and technicians. The positioning of the country as an attractive location for the industry is evidenced by the more than 60 multinational companies that have chosen Chile to develop their investment projects. These companies include Oracle, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Experian, Evalueserve, Delta Airlines, Air France, Yahoo, Shell, and recently, General Electric, whose project in the Region of Valparaiso will involve the recruitment of 1,000 professionals and technicians.
Revitalization MeasuresAmong the measures agreed at the meeting with President Bachelet was the commitment to expedite the passing of the Data Protection Act. The legislation, which is now prioritized by the House of Representatives' Constitution, Law, Justice and Regulation Commission, will give the country a modern regulatory framework and meet the needs of this sector.
In terms of training human capital, it was agreed to extend CORFO's English grants and adapt the National Training and Employment Service's (SENCE) tax reduction, which is the main legal instrument for promoting the development of training programs within companies. The aim is to improve the language skills of Chilean professionals and technicians so that they can compete in this global industry. Likewise, the idea was raised of making the Chile Bicentennial Scholarship (BECAS Chile) program more flexible by adjusting it to the needs of the sector, as regards postgraduate and technical training abroad.
Finally, in order to promote the development of the local industry, it was agreed to launch a support program for Chilean companies that export global services. This will be orchestrated through the Chilean Association of Business Information Technology's (ACTI) technology platform in the U.S. and will include possible expansion to other markets such as India.
Source: www.corfo.cl