MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colin Powell arrives in Chile to attend OAS meeting.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Santiago de Chile Sunday evening to attend the annual OAS meeting this week.

The Organization of American States conference had been inaugurated just hours earlier by Chilean President Ricardo Lagos.

Powell will begin an intensive series of meetings today's Monday, including bilateral discussions with his Latin American counterparts, as well as a private audience with Lagos at the La Moneda presidential palace.

In addition to meeting with Chilean Foreign Relations Minister Soledad Alvear, Powell is scheduled to meet with the foreign ministers of Brazil, Colombia, Peru and the Caribbean Community member nations.

Powell is making the trip not only to attend the OAS meeting, but also because on Friday Chile signed a free trade agreement with Washington in Miami.

Powell will also fly to Argentina on Tuesday morning escort with Argentine Foreign Minister Mr. Bielsa to meet newly elected President Nestor Kirchner and give a symbolic endorsement to the latter's stated campaign to rid the country of cronyism and corruption after several years of economic and political turmoil.

Although a number of Latin American nations, in particular U.N. Security Council members Chile and Mexico, did not support the U.S. stance or attack on Iraq, Powell told reporters that Washington had strong U.S. relations with both countries and said he did not expect the disagreement to hurt bilateral ties.

"We're anxious to talk about the future and not the past and I don't see any lasting consequences," Powell said.

"After all the time and attention that we spent on Iraq, the Middle East and elsewhere, we're looking forward to once again turning our diplomatic attention to our own hemisphere," he added.