Senator Velásquez (FRVS) valued statements by Undersecretary Ahumada on relations with Argentina and Bolivia for the Lithium industry

The senator for the Region of Antofagasta, Esteban Velasquez (FRVS), valued what was raised by the Undersecretary of Economic Relations (Subrei), José Miguel Ahumada, in terms of working on a regional industrial policy with Argentina and Bolivia to “climb in the lithium value chain.”
In the framework of the discussion of the TPP11, in an interview with Radio Universidad de Chile, Ahumada defended the policy of negotiating the so-called side letters, but also advanced some aspects of the management of his undersecretariat to promote new industrial policies in the country.
“Today a super interesting project is being prepared, which is the National Development Bank, which is being led by the Economy, and we as undersecretary are establishing the space, which we hope to announce soon, of working tables for regional industrial policy with Argentina and also Bolivia. We want to be part of that regional discussion so that Latin America, the Southern Cone, can climb the lithium value chain based on a regional policy,” said the head of Subrei.
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In this regard, the regionalist parliamentarian, who is the author of the project that seeks to establish a mining royalty for copper and lithium, said that “with respect to what was raised by Undersecretary Ahumada, I very much agree with the beginning to scrutinize, to review, and certainly to implement policies of all kinds with our neighboring countries, a very logical and natural question that we have long wondered why not, especially those of us who live in border regions and even more so if we are talking about an industrial policy regarding lithium”.
“As we have been saying for years, it is time to stop just exploiting our natural resources and invest and look for alternatives to give it added value. But not only lithium, that has to do with all our natural resources of which we enjoy a lot, but also some of our neighbors and, without a doubt, together we can not only industrialize, but be able to grow and that also implies deepening economic, political, social, diplomatic confidence. It seems to me that well carried out this type of policies of a healthy coexistence in the industrial, can undoubtedly augur very interesting positive projections, “he concluded.

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Original source in Spanish