Sharif Chacoff, ProChile’s Trade Commissioner in the UAE, is a key figure in strengthening trade and investment relations between Chile and the Gulf countries. With a background in promoting Chilean goods and services globally, Sharif has played a pivotal role in enhancing the economic ties between these regions. Despite the geographic distance, Chile maintains a robust trade relationship with the UAE, exporting goods worth over $165 million in 2023.
Sharif’s strategic vision involves not only strengthening existing market shares but also diversifying Chilean exports to the Gulf. He has been instrumental in facilitating key sectors such as metals, chemicals, food, and forestry, which constitute a significant portion of Chilean exports to the GCC.
Through his efforts, initiatives like Gulfood and Expo Dubai 2020 have provided platforms for Chilean businesses to showcase their products, resulting in substantial business opportunities and investments. Sharif’s focus on promoting Chilean tech and service sectors further emphasizes the growing potential for collaboration between Chile and the Gulf countries.
Join us in this insightful interview as Sharif Chacoff shares his experiences, achievements, and vision for the future of Chilean trade in the Gulf region
How would you describe the current state of trade and investment relations between Chile and the UAE, as well as other Gulf countries?
Chile has a very stable and growing relationship with UAE, despite our geographic distance. In 2023, Chile exported goods and services for a total of US$ 165 million to UAE, more than to any other country in the Middle East. However, this number is lower than previous years; the pandemic affected our trade and Chilean exports to UAE saw a decline of about 30% in the past couple of years, in line with what has happened with other Latin American countries. Our country is currently 92nd among the top exporters to UAE, with about 195 Chilean companies sending their goods and services.
This post-pandemic effect also impacted on our exports to other Gulf countries. However, we are seeing signs of recovery. One important example is Bahrein: between January and May, total Chilean exports to that country were about US$ 102 million, which represents a growth of almost 78% compared to the same period of last year. Our exports to Bahrein have grown constantly during the past five years, particularly due to iron. Another example is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: in the same five months, total Chilean exports were over US$ 46 million, which is over 30% more than in that period of 2023.
We also work very closely with InvestChile, a public agency that seeks to promote investment in our country. They have detected a growing interest from Gulf countries to invest in Chile, as they work to diversify their economy, secure food safety and reach global decarbonization goals. Our country can become a partner in energy production and storage, critical minerals and agrotech. InvestChile has been in touch with sovereign funds in the Middle East since 2021, to promote investment opportunities in these and other sectors.
For this year, ProChile has planned around 12 activities in this region to promote Chilean goods and services. We have a long-term strategy that is based on the diversification of exports as well as destination markets. We expect not only to revert the post-pandemic decline, but to increase and strengthen our trade to UAE and GCC.
What are the key sectors where you see the most potential for collaboration between Chile and the Gulf countries?
From around 200 products and services that we export annually to GCC, it is the metals and chemicals industry (particularly iron and potassium nitrate) that have represented over half of all our exports during the last 5 years. Industries like foods and forestry also represent 30% of our exports to GCC. These are sectors in which Chile has a global leadership, and through which we will continue to collaborate and strengthen our business relationship. Additionally, there are Chilean companies that offer technology and innovation services for firms in mining, agriculture, forestry, aquiculture and clean energy — they have the experience, know-how, and great potential to bring their offer to the international markets.
What is your long-term vision for the economic relationship between Chile and the Gulf region?
The commercial strategy for the next 5 years is based on 2 pillars: strengthen and diversify. Strengthen our market share in products where Chile is recognized as a reliable supplier; and, at the same time, diversify Chilean shipments to the United Arab Emirates, as well as diversify the number of destinations where our exports arrive in the Middle East.
In the first pillar, we are strengthening sectors such as the Agri-food industry, where Chile already has gained a global image as a reliable supplier of healthy, safe and sustainable foods. In this sense, increasing our market share requires more export-promotion activities, with a particular focus on the origin of the products and attempting to reach a greater number of importers. It is also relevant to complement traditional commercial channels with the opportunities offered by e-commerce channels in the UAE, where Chile also has a good portfolio of products and food innovations aimed at final consumers.
The second pillar aims at diversification: we are working to promote a new export offer in UAE and GCC. In Emirates for example, the focus is focus on supporting the promotion of companies which supply technological services in industries where UAE is a reference for the Middle East. Industries like health, education and financial services, to mention some, permanently require cutting-edge service-suppliers. In this regard, Chile has an innovative export offer for this sectors which are: health-tech, edtech, fintech and aggrotech.
On the other hand, to diversify our export destinations in GCC, we are raising commercial intelligence reports and planning commercial activities in order to advance towards those markets. In this regard, the first of several trade missions we will do in KSA, where we have seen great opportunities for example in mining sector, since KSA has planned more than US$ 32 billion in investments to develop this industry. Chile has a very well-known mining industry and is one of the largest copper producers in the world, where we have developed for decades mining suppliers with global and innovative solutions capable of to be a reliable partner in this industry.
Could you highlight some success stories or notable achievements that ProChile has facilitated in the UAE and the Gulf region?
We are happy with Chile’s participation in activities such as Gulfood, last February, where more than 50 Chilean companies represented the country and reaffirmed our commitment to the production and export of healthy, safe and sustainable foods. We currently supply over 5 thousand importers from around 22 countries in the Middle East, Northern Africa and Asia. If we only take India, Turkey and UAE, the business projection from this fair for Chilean businesses was more than US$ 160 million.
Another successful instance was the World Expo Dubai 2020 (between October 2021 and March 2022), where ProChile was able to showcase more than 500 companies, and over a thousand Chilean entrepreneurs got the chance to know the UAE’s culture, environment, language and other aspects. Many of our entrepreneurs got to secure business opportunities and foreign investment to continue with their tech developments. This expo was particularly important for Chilean exporters in sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fishing and aquiculture, wines and services.
If we want to look at one particular example, Chilean honey has earned a position as a healthy, high-quality product. This industry had an important jump after the pandemic, especially thanks to specialized retail (pharmacies), but also due to the fact that it’s a popular product, entrenched in consumers’ DNA. Chilean sea products have also benefited from ProChile’s promotion activities, and the contacts we have pushed between the main importers and distributors, facilitating trade for salmon, trout, cod and mussels.
How does ProChile support Chilean businesses seeking to enter the UAE and Gulf markets?
ProChile’s mission is to connect Chilean offer of goods and services with the international demand. With that in mind, we provide our country’s businesses with knowledge, contacts and promotion opportunities, through the regional offices we have all over Chile and in more than 50 strategic markets around the world. Among other concrete actions, we facilitate Chilean companies’ presence in relevant fairs to promote their goods and services, particularly for SMEs; we organize national and international events, to connect importers from all over the world with Chilean potential or actual exporters; and we work very closely with other Government institutions (such as Mining or Agriculture Ministries) and the private sector to detect and take advantage of exporting opportunities, in order to diversify the goods and services our country exports as well as the destination markets that we reach.
Chile is renowned for its agricultural products. How do you promote these in the Gulf region, and what challenges do you face?
Chile has earned a reputation as a producer and exporter of healthy and safe foods, which are increasingly produced with sustainable practices. Our products go mainly to China, USA and our neighbours in Latin America, but we are always looking for opportunities in other markets. The main challenge in the Gulf region is the geographic and cultural distance, and our mission as ProChile’s office in UAE is to facilitate a closer relationship, which we attempt with the 2-pillar strategy described before.
Beyond traditional sectors like agriculture, what emerging industries do you see as promising areas for cooperation between Chile and the Gulf countries?
Beyond the agricultural products that Chile produces, there are opportunities for tech and services for that industry, as well as health-tech, edtech, fintech, mining suppliers among other sectors, all of them representing the new concept that ProChile is promoting: Global Solutions
How does ProChile facilitate cultural exchange between Chile and the Gulf countries?
ProChile’s core mission is more related to trade, but we work very closely with our Chilean Embassy in UAE to bring both countries together culturally. Each September, we celebrate Chile’s National Day with a music and arts show, which is a good opportunity to bring our culture, products and services and fore sure our best wines.
That said, ProChile also works to promote Chilean cultural sector: industries such as filmmaking, editorial, music, videogames, crafts and others. This sector is increasingly important for our economy and currently represents the 2,2% of the Chile´s GDP, with more than USD$ 75 million in exports and generating more than 400 thousand jobs. Our cultural sector has received numerous awards, from Nobel Prizes in Literature and Oscars to others for videogames developers and illustrators. From ProChile, we work closely with our Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage as well as with the private sector, to be present in the most relevant cultural fairs in the world. We are also developing a plan for the next 5 years to show the best of our culture and bring it to GCC.
What are your strategic priorities for the next few years to further strengthen the bilateral relationship between Chile and the Gulf countries, and how do you plan to achieve these goals?
Through our 2-pillar strategy, aiming to strengthen relevant sectors and diversify our exports, we hope that within 5 years we will achieve an increase in exports by 25% (in value), but also the number of small and medium sized enterprises that export to this country by 20% in the same period. We also hope to diversify territories, aiming for 10% growth in GCC.
Chile is taking steps to strengthen our relationship and our presence in the Gulf countries. In March, our Ministry of Foreign Relations announced the opening of a new Embassy at KSA, as a signal of our growing interest in this region. This brings an opportunity for further collaboration and trade: it will help us to gain more contacts, strategic information and insights to bring to Chilean companies hoping to export their goods and services to this region.
