Approximately 32 IIRSA projects, including a number of trans-border projects, are slated for implementation in Chile. Together these projects require an estimated investment of $1.2 billion. They fall within 4 integration hubs—Capricorn, Central Interoceanic, MERCOSUR-Chile, and Southern—with the majority falling in the MERCOSUR hub. The majority of projects correspond to the transportation and border crossings sectors.
With a reputation for reacting coolly to calls for regional integration and a penchant for looking beyond South America for economic investment and trade opportunities, Chile is nevertheless no stranger to capital-intensive development projects. In December 2003, President Lagos gave a speech in which he expressed the Chilean Government’s full backing of IIRSA. The recent election of Michelle Bachelet, Chile’s first female president and a member of Lagos’s party, is not likely to alter this support in any substantial way.