Chile´s capital and largest city, Santiago, is located in the central valley of Santiago at an elevated height of five hundred twenty meters. However, for legislative meetings, Valparaiso and not Santiago is the designated meeting place. Three whole decades of uninterrupted growth in the economy has resulted in the fact that it has now become Latin America´s most modern metropolis.

Far reaching suburban developments, shopping malls by the dozen, high rise architecture built to impress and some of Latin America´s highly modern transportation systems such as the underground train system called Santiago Metro and the Costanera Norte, the newest toll-based highway system the passes downtown and then connects the West and East extremes of the city in just a twenty five minute drive. Many important companies are found here in Santiago making it the region´s financial center, generating forty five percent of the economy´s gross domestic product. Due to the strong growth and the Chile economy´s stability, many multinationals have made Santiago the choice for putting up offices. Hewlett Packard, Yahoo!, Ford, Microsoft, Coca Cola, Procter and Gamble, Unilever and Nestle all have headquarters here.