MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine-Chilean border integration.

Argentine Ambassador in Chile, Carlos Abihaggle said Argentina will “invest heavily” to improve frontier passes and facilitate the circulation of residents from both countries.

The "integrated border system" is geared to make effective the free circulation of Chilean and Argentine residents beginning next January, as was recently agreed between presidents Nestor Kirchner and Ricardo Lagos indicated Mr. Abihaggle during a short visit to Rio Gallegos.

"President (Nestor) Kirchner and Foreign Secretary Rafael Bielsa have underlined the need to federalize Argentine and Chilean policies. We need to build an enduring relation, beneficial for both sides. A strategic alliance based on the strong understanding between both presidents", said Mr. Abihaggle who this week will be participating in the regional bi-national "Frontier Passes" summit to be held in Punta Arenas.

The Argentine-Chile Frontier Committee meets regularly with the participation of Foreign Secretaries, the Patagonian regional governments (Tierra del Fuego, Santa Cruz and Magallanes Region) and military officers responsible for the custody of border passes.

"Our goal is to ensure citizens from both countries can circulate by simply showing their IDs with no need for any paperwork", added Mr. Abihaggle.

The new border integrated system should make traffic more agile, facilitate transport of goods, tourism, and will also help to control across border car robberies.

Apparently the Argentine government is planning to invest over two million US dollars in the Austral Integration Pass of Mount Aymond, forty miles south of Río Gallegos.

"Funds have also been allocated for the Jama Pass in Jujuy (north Argentina) and for the Cristo Redentor and Pehuenches passes in Mendoza", said Ambassador Abihaggle.

. Strong Chilean peso

The United States dollar continued to slide in Chile's financial markets and this Monday reached 657 Chilean pesos, its lowest level since June 2002.

So far this year the US dollar has lost 6% of its value against the Chilean peso.

Santiago market analysts believe the strong showing of the Chilean economy that is scheduled to expand close to 4% this year and good prospects for the country's exports have had a positive influence in the appreciation of the local currency.

A strong peso is good news for Chileans planning to travel overseas, particularly Argentina and Brazil, but not so encouraging for incoming tourists. In the height of the Brazilian financial crisis the US dollar exchange rate reached 750 Chilean pesos.