MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean president invited to the White House June 23

President Michelle Bachelet and her counterpart Barack Obama during the recent Summit of the Americas

Chilean president Michelle Bachelet will be meeting with President Barak Obama at the White House next June 23, it was announced in Santiago. This will be the second meeting of the two leaders: the first was at the recent Summit of the Americas in Trinidad Tobago.

The US appointment is part of an intense international agenda of the Chilean president who is also scheduled to visit in the coming weeks, France, Holland and El Salvador.

Apparently Ms Bachelet and President Obama got on very well during the summit. Furthermore in November last year when analyzing the impact of President Obama’s victory in the US, Ms Bachelet compared it to her own success in 2006, as the first woman president to be elected in Chile.

“I know that what I’m going to say might sound ridiculous, but I was the Obama of Chile. I was that different person, as was said at the time, the rabbit out of the hat, but the truth is that I don’t know if what Chile needs in this new chapter is an Obama, or rather a he or she candidate that can represent what Chile needs for the future”, said Ms Bachelet at the time.

The Chilean president also praised “as a good decision” the nomination of Arturo Valenzuela for the job of Under Secretary of Hemispheric Affairs, State Department.

“He’s an academic, most qualified, very competent with an in depth knowledge of the political cultural evolution of Latinamerica. I imagine he will clearly be able to respond to the expressed willingness of President Obama to keep working together in a positive, close and constructive relation with Latinamerica”, she added.

The nomination of Chilean born Valenzuela is “a clear message and gesture from the Obama administration to the whole of Latinamerica. I can only add we approve of it and I’m sure Arturo will be an effective and efficient link with the US”.