Chile and Peru Discuss Free Trade, Venezuela
SANTIAGO, Chile
Peru's President-elect Alan Garcia met with Chilean officials on Thursday and discussed plans to start trade talks amid signals Peru may counter efforts by Venezuela to widen its anti-U.S. alliance.
Garcia, who takes office on July 28, met with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet in Santiago during a visit that was to last only a few hours.
His trip may signal solidarity efforts among some moderate countries against anti-U.S. populism in the region just as Venezuela accuses the United States of trying to scuttle its bid to secure a seat on the U.N. Security Council.
"Chile, Brazil and Peru are an alternative to the model of state that he wishes to impose from Venezuela, with fewer democratic values," Garcia told reporters after his meeting with Bachelet, referring to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Garcia's election was widely seen as a blow for Chavez, who had openly supported Garcia's leftist opponent.
"Sowing disorder in the rest of the region in order to expand a (political) model does not seem to me to be a good example," Garcia said.
Chilean human rights lawyers took advantage of Garcia's visit to file official legal complaints against him for alleged human rights violations during a first term in office, from 1985 to 1990.
"They are very misinformed," Garcia said.
Energy and free trade also were on the agenda of Garcia's visit—his second trip abroad since winning the election on June 4. He traveled to Brazil last week.
"We would like to reach a free-trade agreement with Peru," Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley said earlier in the day.
Negotiating a trade pact could strengthen diplomatic ties between the neighbors who have squabbled off and on since a sea war more than a century ago.
Foxley said Chile would also like Peru to join it, New Zealand, Brunei and Singapore in the so-called T4 trans-Pacific pact promoting trading links with Asia.
"We would like to propose to the countries of the T4 that they consider the incorporation of Peru to this accord, so that Asia is the common market to which the economies of both our countries project themselves," Foxley said.
Garcia, who takes office on July 28, met with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet in Santiago during a visit that was to last only a few hours.
His trip may signal solidarity efforts among some moderate countries against anti-U.S. populism in the region just as Venezuela accuses the United States of trying to scuttle its bid to secure a seat on the U.N. Security Council.
"Chile, Brazil and Peru are an alternative to the model of state that he wishes to impose from Venezuela, with fewer democratic values," Garcia told reporters after his meeting with Bachelet, referring to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Garcia's election was widely seen as a blow for Chavez, who had openly supported Garcia's leftist opponent.
"Sowing disorder in the rest of the region in order to expand a (political) model does not seem to me to be a good example," Garcia said.
Chilean human rights lawyers took advantage of Garcia's visit to file official legal complaints against him for alleged human rights violations during a first term in office, from 1985 to 1990.
"They are very misinformed," Garcia said.
Energy and free trade also were on the agenda of Garcia's visit—his second trip abroad since winning the election on June 4. He traveled to Brazil last week.
"We would like to reach a free-trade agreement with Peru," Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley said earlier in the day.
Negotiating a trade pact could strengthen diplomatic ties between the neighbors who have squabbled off and on since a sea war more than a century ago.
Foxley said Chile would also like Peru to join it, New Zealand, Brunei and Singapore in the so-called T4 trans-Pacific pact promoting trading links with Asia.
"We would like to propose to the countries of the T4 that they consider the incorporation of Peru to this accord, so that Asia is the common market to which the economies of both our countries project themselves," Foxley said.
posted by Alice at
Friday, June 23, 2006
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