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Thursday, July 7, 2016 
Foreign Minister Muñoz and Agent Insulza deliver the Chilean Counter-Memorial to the President of the Republic
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This afternoon, Minister of Foreign Affairs Heraldo Muñoz, accompanied by Agent José Miguel Insulza, met with President Michelle to deliver the final version of the Counter-Memorial that Chile will present before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands in July. The document is a written response to the arguments made by Bolivia regarding the obligation to negotiate sovereign access to the sea.

At the end of the 40 minute meeting, the President, accompanied by the Foreign Minister and Agent Insulza, met with the press in the Red Hall of La Moneda. "It is work of the highest quality — it was coordinated and completed by experts that included international and national jurists as well as professionals working behind the Counter-Memorial," stated the Chief of State. She also remarked that, as a country, "we have faced this claim and this challenge through what has been invariable State policy."

For his part, the Secretary of State praised the work done by the team led by José Miguel Insulza and stated that "we are very satisfied with the content of this Counter-Memorial. As the President said, it is a solid document, from both a legal and historical point of view."

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The Minister added that "territorial and maritime sovereignty are not what's at stake. What we do have on our hands is a discussion on whether or not the conversations that took place historically between Bolivia and Chile constitute an obligation. We believe it does not, given that it is the nature of international relations to sit, listen, and have diplomatic exchanges."

"We are as calm as we have always been, and even more so now given that there is nothing fundamental at stake for Chile here. The Treaty of 1904 is not in question."

The Chilean legal team will deliver the Counter-Memorial to the International Court of Justice in The Hague before July 25th. Once Chile delivers this document, Bolivia may respond to it by a procedural appeal called "replication," which Chile can then respond to with a "duplication." After completing this process, both parties will present their arguments directly to the judges of the Court via "oral arguments," after which the Court will set a date in which it will pass a sentence.

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Before the meeting with the President, Foreign Minister Muñoz presided over a meeting with the members of the Advisory Committee regarding the claims Chile has made in the International Court of Justice. In addition to the Minister, Agent José Miguel Insulza and the jurists that lead the claim Chile filed against Bolivia regarding international use of the waters of the Silala River system also participated in the meeting, including Ximena Fuentes, Agent and Director of Borders and Limits of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Juan Ignacio Piña, Co-Agent and President of the State Defense Council.