DAY FOUR

DAY FOUR January 31

Three business meetings today: 

IATA - the International Air Transport Association which has 240 members thus representing 84% of air traffic. 

The country manager Ms. Heather McDonald explained that she came to Santiago from Canada as a graduating student for her business residency and never left Chile. Now she is representing IATA all over the world. Most students work in the aircraft industry and they found the information provided by the speaker very interesting and helpful.

The second meeting took place in the business unit of the airport. Ms. Maria Elena Cooper, PR and Communications, and her team covered the operational, managerial and regulatory aspects of business. 

After lunch, students went to Clinica Las Condes. The Medical ServIce Director May Chomall presentation dealt with private and public hospital systems and the healthcare systems in Chile. 

DAY ONE PRO-CHILE

DAY O NE January 28, 2013

PROCHILE

Mr. Alfredo Worner, Sectorialista e-Commerce & Retail Departamento Commercio de Servicios, had an hour and a half long round table discussion with our students. ProChile is funded by the Chilean Glovernment and is tasked with attracting foreign direct investments and new businesses to he country. 

Mr. Worner explained that Chile had to become an exporting country because the purchasing power of neighboring countries in Latin America was very low. As of now, Chile does not have a trade deficit due to the high price of copper. Mining is still one of the most important industries that supports the  economic health of the country. 

Students were also interested in how the health care and pension systems are operating in Chile.

DAY THREE

Yesterday evening there was an earth quake in Chile. We are fine and continuing with our business residency. We are leaving on Friday evening.