MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chilean president scheduled to visit Great Britain in April

Pte. Michelle Bachelet

The busy international agenda for Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and her Foreign Affaire minister Alejandro Foxley includes hosting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Italian president Giorgio Napolitano in March and visiting Great Britain in April.

Mr. Foxley in a press conference said Ms Rice's agenda and visit date have yet to be confirmed but Italy's president and Ecuador's Rafael Correa would be arriving in Chile between March 15 and 19. Ms Rice is considered especially significant for Chile since the United States was the arbiter following the 1879 war with Peru and Bolivia, and again in 1929 when the Pacific boundaries between the neighboring countries were established. Peru has announced it will present this year its sea boundaries redrafting claim before the International Court of The Hague, a litigation that could take years but for which international support from countries such as United States and Ecuador are crucial for the Chilean position. President Bachelet last year visited Italy so it's only natural that Mr. Napolitano should come to Chile to reinforce the close links with Italy and the European Union. Chile has a political, economic and cooperation association agreement with the European Union which has been very successful in promoting trade and investments. The visit to the United Kingdom can be also included in the EU-Chile relation although Chilean links with the UK go back almost two centuries when the fight for liberation from Spanish colonial rule. The first week of March Ms Bachelet is scheduled to travel to the Dominican Republic for the Rio Group Summit which will see Chile occupy the presidency and chair in 2010 and 2011, which means hosting the group's leaders in 2011. Finally Asia and the Pacific also figure high in the Chilean presidency agenda. In April Ms Bachelet will be traveling to China and sometime in the coming weeks she will host Indian president Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd next November.