MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sir Admiral West in Chile

Sir Alan West First Lord of the Admiralty will be participating this Wednesday in the official opening of Exponaval 2002, Latinamerica's major naval exhibit that is being held in Viña del Mar, Chile.

Besides Sir Alan West, who was received with full military honors, Britain is present with RFA "Grey Rover".

Delegations from eighteen countries and an estimated 8,000 visitors will be touring the grounds of Exponaval 2002 with ninety stands from naval defence suppliers from all over the world.

The naval exhibit is also an excellent opportunity for European and American navies to offer vessels to their Latinamerican counterparts. Chile is currently in the process of renewing part of its fleet and Peru apparently will be purchasing Italian "Lupo" class frigates.

Spain has shown up in Valparaíso with one of its most modern frigates "Reina Sofía", that comes from participating in the annual Unitas joint naval exercises in the South Atlantic with Mercosur and United States navies.

The official delegations are from Mexico, Panama, Peru, United Kingdom, Germany, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Korea, China, Spain, France, Italy, Singapore, Uruguay and United States.

Santiago's newspaper El Mercurio reports that although Russia is not officially participating, Moscow has anticipated it is also interested in selling new frigates to the Chilean Navy.

More information:

http://www.universnet.cl/exponaval/ http://www.tsnn.net/show_070_338996.htm