Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and Argentine president Cristina Fernández (photo: María Candelaria Lagos/Télam/lz)
President Cristina Fernández de Kichner met Chilean president Michellet Bachelet today at the government house, in the latter’s first official overseas trip. After the meeting, the presidents gave a press conference where they referred to the need to strengthen the relationship between the countries, amongst other topics.
President Bachelet highlighted that “it is neither an accident or a coincidence” that she chose Argentina as the first overseas destination of her second term. “It is time to strongly resume the [cooperation] agenda,” she said, while president Fernández pointed out that Bachelet’s predecessor, Sebastián Piñera, “had other urgencies, other initiatives, and he had all the right to do so.” Both mentioned the need to re-launch the Treaty of Maipú, a cooperation treaty which was signed during the presidents’ first terms.
During the meeting, the presidents talked about an initiative to double the number of border crossings between Chile and Argentina, something they said would bring economic benefits to both countries. Referring to drug trafficking, while both heads of state acknowledged the need to include the issue in the bilateral agenda, they also highlighted that it is something that must be tackled at the regional level, with “common protocols” throughout all the Unasur countries.
Asked about the situation of the Pascua Lama bi-national mining project, currently halted, the presidents preferred not to answer, saying that the issue was in the hands of the judiciary.
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