Cartagena, January 23, 2012.- The Minister of Trade, Industry, and Tourism, Sergio Diaz-Granados, cut the ribbon today in Cartagena, to open the Mall Plaza El Castillo Commercial Center, which has the support of Chilean investment.

Cartagena, January 23, 2012.- The Minister of Trade, Industry, and Tourism, Sergio Diaz-Granados, cut the ribbon today in Cartagena, to open the Mall Plaza El Castillo Commercial Center, which has the support of Chilean investment.

At the opening event, which counts 120 stores, the Minister thanked the Chilean group, Mall Plaza, which is the largest mall operator in Chile and among the leaders in Latin America, for its confidence.

The mall has over 65,000 square meter and a projected annual sales of USD 120 million. Moreover, it is expected to receive over 11 million customers per a year.

On the continent, the Mall Plaza has 17 shopping centers, 12 in Chile, 4 in Peru, and one in Colombia (Bogota). This totals more than 1,190,395 square meters and over 243 million visitors over the past 12 months to September 2012.

In this context, the Minister welcomed the announcement of the Chilean chain that it intends to open malls in Cali, Medellin, and Manizales over the next three years, thus increasing its investment in the country.

Plaza S.A. is part of the economic group S.A.C.I Falabella. Mall Plaza is located next to the Castle of San Felipe, on the main avenue of Pedro de Heredia. Among its novelties, there will be the opening of the city's first Falabella and Pepe Ganga stores.

According to the Bank of the Republic, between January and September 2012, Colombia received USD 431.1 million in FDI from Chile. This was an increase of 45.8% compared to the same period of 2011.

By sector, the largest recipients of FDI from Chile, during the first half of 2012, were transport (42%), real estate (22%), financial (12%), industry (9%), commerce (7%), while other sectors captured the remaining 8%.

PHOTO

From left to right: Philip Cobo, General Manager of Mall Plaza in Colombia; Juan Manuel Canales, shareholder; Sergio Diaz-Granados, Minister of Trade, Industry, and Tourism; and Carlos Otero, Mayor of Cartagena.


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