MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile-Germany to Strengthen Links

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet discussed cooperation in education and alternative energy Thursday with Chancellor Angela Merkel during a visit to Germany ? her home in exile during Chile's military dictatorship.

Bachelet said the two leaders "had a very good understanding" as they headed into a meeting at the chancellery Thursday evening.

"It is a great joy for me, as I have said, to return to Germany after 30 years, now as president of Chile," Bachelet said, standing next to Germany's first female chancellor.

"I find it very positive and interesting that both in Germany and Chile there are women leaders," she said. "That's positive because it means our societies are becoming more equal between men and women."

U.S.-based Forbes magazine in August rated Merkel as the world's most powerful woman and Bachelet as No. 17.

Cooperation in alternative energy such as wind power, where Bachelet praised Germany's "technological leadership" was one theme of the visit, the two said.

They also agreed on setting up a program to fund graduate studies for 220 Chilean doctoral students in Germany.

Merkel praised Chile's "responsible way of dealing with a difficult past."

"We know that Chile is going through a remarkable period of development," Merkel said. "A stable democracy has been created, a consolidated law-governed state has been built, there is sustained economic growth."

Earlier, Bachelet received an honorary doctorate Thursday from Berlin's Charite hospital where she studied during the 1970s in exile from Chile's military dictatorship when the hospital was in communist-run East Berlin.

"This award has a deep meaning for me because of my connection to this country that took in me and my family more than two decades ago," Bachelet said.

Bachelet's father was an air force general who was arrested and tortured for opposing the 1973 coup that brought Gen. Augusto Pinochet to power.

A 22-year-old medical student at the time, Bachelet was arrested along with her mother and later forced into five years of exile, first in Australia, then in East Germany. She lived in Potsdam, just outside Berlin. She completed her medical studies back in Santiago.

Bachelet met earlier with German officials including parliamentary president Norbert Lammert for talks that touched on the need for welfare reforms in both countries.

Chile's leaders "have a long way ahead of us to improve basic health provision and care for the children and the elderly," Bachelet said after receiving the doctorate.

She said both Germany and Chile face the challenge of securing prosperity while focusing on ordinary people's needs.

"We must fight to defend the dignity of people in Chile and around the world," she said.