On 17 and 18 June 2026, the CELIS Institute and the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) convened a special edition of the CELIS Thought Leaders Programme in Santiago. Held at Chile’s Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two-day programme brought together Chilean public officials, international experts, business associations, chambers of commerce and legal practitioners for a high-trust exchange on investment screening and economic security.

This edition deliberately differed from the programme’s established European format. Rather than helping practitioners compare several existing screening regimes, CELIS Thought Leaders Chile was conceived as a policy-learning and capacity-building dialogue centred on Chile’s own questions. Its purpose was to draw lessons from the experience of other jurisdictions - without importing a ready-made model - and to place those lessons at the disposal of Chilean decision-makers and stakeholders.

Two days, two complementary settings

The first day took the form of a closed-door, government-focused workshop at the Ministry of Finance.

The discussions examined how jurisdictions manage economic and strategic interdependencies; how targeted mitigation measures can address concrete risks without reducing screening to a binary decision to approve or prohibit an investment; and how a mechanism can be designed to deliver speed, predictability, legal certainty and appropriate avenues of review.

The second day, held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, widened the circle to include the business community, chambers of commerce and legal practitioners. Participants considered what investment screening can - and cannot - achieve, how it fits within a broader economic-security toolbox, and how any future framework could reconcile security objectives with Chile’s continuing need for investment, growth and competitiveness.

What participants explored

Comparative experience, not copy-and-paste regulation
International practice can illuminate the choices, trade-offs and institutional safeguards that matter. Any Chilean approach, however, would need to reflect Chile’s own legal order, institutions, economic structure and strategic priorities.

Screening as calibrated risk management
Investment screening need not operate solely as an approve-or-prohibit mechanism. Carefully designed mitigation measures can target specific concerns—including access to sensitive information or technology, continuity of critical services, and governance over strategic assets—while allowing an investment to proceed.

Institutional design as a substantive issue
Clear thresholds, efficient workflows, transparent expectations, accountability and effective avenues of review determine whether a screening mechanism protects security without creating unnecessary uncertainty for investors and businesses.

One instrument within a wider toolbox
Investment screening cannot deliver economic security on its own. It must be understood as one instrument among several and designed to complement other tools addressing supply-chain resilience, critical infrastructure, strategic dependencies and sensitive technologies.

The private sector as a design input
Businesses, chambers and advisers see how regulatory requirements operate in actual transactions. Bringing that experience into the policy process can help ensure that a framework is proportionate, workable and compatible with Chile’s attractiveness as an investment destination.

A central takeaway

The discussions did not seek to decide for Chile whether an investment screening mechanism should be introduced or what form it should take. They pointed instead to a conclusion that applies regardless of the policy direction ultimately chosen: the quality of the design matters as much as the decision whether to screen.

A process that is lawful, proportionate, predictable and reviewable can support security and openness at the same time. One that is slow, opaque or arbitrary risks serving neither—and may deter precisely the investment that a country seeks to attract.

CELIS Thought Leaders Chile therefore marked a new approach within the Thought Leaders Programme: a governance-neutral, non-advocacy dialogue that brought international experience to a jurisdiction considering its own path, while keeping Chilean priorities and choices firmly at the centre. It reflected the core purpose of CELIS Thought Leaders- building expertise and trust through candid exchange among government, business, practitioners and academia - adapted to the particular needs of Chile.