Bernardo Larraín Matte becomes an alternate member of the APEC Business Council
The commercial engineer and current SOFOFA Chairman, Bernardo Larraín Matte, assumes today as an alternate member of the APEC Business Council (ABAC) after the passing of Francisco Garcés last May.
From this position, Larraín Matte joins the private sector in the preparations for APEC Chile 2019, along with the team composed by ASECH President Alejandra Mustakis; the President of the Viñas Errázuriz Group, Eduardo Chadwick; and the heads of ABAC, headed by Richard von Appen, Overseas President; Alfonso Sweet, President of the CPC; and Rosario Navarro, Vice President of Sonda.
The APEC Business Council will have the responsibility of promoting the work, defining the private sector deliverables, as well as organizing the CEO Summit, one of the most important business meetings that APEC Chile will have and in which the leaders of the 21 economies belonging to the forum traditionally participate.
About the APEC Business Advisory Council
ABAC is a parallel body to APEC, composed of private sector representatives from all 21 economies, whose role is to deliver concrete recommendations to sector leaders and ministers, in line with the forum's objectives of openness and liberalization of trade and investment.
Between 2004 and 2014, this Council made 127 specific recommendations to leaders, of which 66 were adopted. Thus, for example, the idea of establishing an Asia-Pacific free trade area was proposed in Santiago in 2004. The ABTC card - which allows business people to travel without a visa for 19 of the APEC economies - is another of ABAC's recognized achievements.