Chile, formally the Republic of Chile, is a one of the countries in South America occupying a long, constricted strip of land between the Pacific Ocean to the west and Andes Mountains to the east. It is bounded by Peru to the north, to the northeast Bolivia, to the east Argentina, and to the far south Drake Passage. Together with Ecuador, Chile is one of South American’s two countries that is not bounded by Brazil. Its territory comprises the Easter Island, Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Desventuradas, and Salas y Gómez. Even though the Antarctic treaty undermines this claim, Chile claims approximately 1,250,000 square kilometers (480,000 sq mi). In this study am going to reflect on my visit to Chile and outline the various challenges I thought the country faced.
According to my guide, for the last two decades (20 years ago), Chile has followed a stable course of development in as far as free-market lines is concerned. Income Per capita has almost doubled since the nineties, and is close to the top in Latin America rating or rankings. The poverty level currently is approximately about the same as that of the US. This high level of macroeconomic and political stability has provided Chilean industries with a solid foundation on which to develop their futures.
At the moment, their main challenge is scale: Chile is comparatively a small state. With inhabitants of just below 17 million, the move to go abroad tends to occur pretty earlier in a company’s growth than in larger scope of markets. Chilean businesses are facing the problem of growing into larger markets (international market). I feel the government should put up policy frameworks that would look into the issue and help potential Chilean businesses through in the international market.
Chile has one of the best mining of copper in the whole world. When I visited the mining sites I discovered that Copper demand has rose since the rural inhabitants of Chile started migrating to the urban areas. The migrants want houses with copper wires and pipes. Promising markets all over the world are guzzling up copper to make cars, bridges, fridges and relatively anything that is an electrical device. The biggest worry to Chile’s copper growth is contributed big time by its largest copper client which is China. If the state that imports 40% of Chile’s copper drops further, the cost of the metal will depreciate again and it will be difficult for the Chileans to mine there copper . I think Chile should survey optional markets more and stop being reliant to one country.
I also learnt that, energy is expensive and likely to get more expensive. Chile has not many domestic sources if not its dams and hydropower stations that are not close to its mines. I think the country is rich enough to acquire a muscular green movement, which can curb development of new power plants.
In conclusion, Chile is vastly globalized and I enjoyed my visit there, ranked and rated 28th on the EY Globalization Index in 2012, which rates the earth’s top 60 states by GDP in relation to the degree of their candidness to trade, exchange of technology and ideologies, capital flows, cultural integrations and labor movements. This shows that Chile as country is on the right track in development.
Reference
Harmer, T. (2011). Allende's Chile and the Inter-American Cold WarNew Cold War history. New York: Univ of North Carolina Press. Print.
Pehlchen, B. (2007). Analysis of the Chilean Tourism Market - Products and Opportunities for the Destination Pucón and the IXth Region. New York: GRIN Verlag. Print.
