• 3 min de lectura
• 3 min de lectura
The Port of Arica hosted the "Day Zero" event, which marked the welcome to the Great Desert Gathering, an event that is part of Viraliza Corfo and is funded by the Regional Productive Development Committee with execution by Waki Labs. The day began with a tour of the port facilities, where organizers and NASA scientists, Bruce Link and Trent Smith, along with other guests, learned about part of the facility's operations, within the framework of a visit to the terminal led by the engineer from Empresa Portuaria Arica (EPA), Diego Torres.
Subsequently, the event's inauguration took place at the Integral Tourist Center, an occasion that brought together regional authorities, service directors, and people linked to knowledge and innovation.
The regional governor, Diego Paco, stated that "when there is a clear roadmap such as innovating, competing, and getting the most out of what each one has in terms of agriculture, authorities work together, and that is when results begin to be seen. Being in the desert is not a limitation, nor is being a border city. We must seek opportunities, but that depends on us, therefore, initiatives like these, with the support of all the institutions behind the Great Desert Gathering, we will be able to continue advancing and developing in Arica and Parinacota."
On the other hand, Patricio Arias, director of Waki Labs, valued that "the port has always supported us when it comes to ecosystem activities, and we found it to be a very good opportunity for people to connect, in some way, before the big event. Our international guests were very interested, so we are happy with this reception."
Arias added that the Great Desert Gathering seeks to mobilize the ecosystem, generate debate, and position topics so that they can then continue to develop and result in concrete actions, such as projects, new companies, linkages, and businesses. And on this occasion, the focus is on agriculture as a platform to even reach space objectives with NASA.
"We are accompanied by two of the top scientists who are in charge of feeding astronauts on upcoming space missions, and who need to test crops in complex geographies like ours. We are also visited by the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, and the Vice President of Agriculture of the most important company in the Middle East in agricultural production, who also come to learn and tell us how we could link and generate alliances from the desert," affirmed the director of Waki Labs.
For his part, the general manager of Terminal Puerto Arica (TPA), Camilo Jobet, highlighted the fact that logistics is a key tool to transform the geographical advantages of the desert into concrete development opportunities. In that vein, Jobet emphasized that "agriculture in the desert demonstrates that innovation can transform challenges into opportunities."
Finally, Javier Rivera, acting general manager of EPA, expressed that it is valuable for experts from different parts of the world to gather in Arica. "For us, as Empresa Portuaria Arica, supporting this initiative is very relevant, and we hope that this will be the starting point for development to take place from one of the driest deserts in the world. For EPA, it was important that the guests could learn about the port infrastructure, how we are dedicated to foreign trade, and exchange experiences," Rivera noted.
Source: Port Portal
