Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heraldo Muñoz, took part today at Palacio La Moneda, alongside with President Michelle Bachelet, in the release of the book "Vocation for Peace, Chile's Foreign Policy", text in which summarises the main milestones of our national foreign policy, making particular emphasis in the vocation for peace that has characterized our country throughout its history.

"This book aims at portraying what we are, what Chile evokes to the world, what we have tried to communicate. Chile communicates to the world with everything is has: both its large spans and its deep shadows. This book shows everything that we are", said the Secretary of State during the release, which was presided by President Michelle Bachelet and was attended by all alive former Presidents of our country, alongside ministers, parliamentarians and former Foreign Ministers, amongst other authorities.

The publication emerges as a response to Chilean's Government interest of sharing, with a text that summarizes, explains and emphasizes the main milestones of our foreign policy throughout history and its contributions to the strengthening of the international system. The project was led by journalist Ascanio Cavallo, who is also in charge of communications for the Bolivian maritime dispute, alongside with the Direction of Borders and Boundaries (Difrol) and the Direction of Strategic Planning of the Minister of Foreign Relations (Diplane).

"We believe it will be an important instrument for our country's public diplomacy" emphasized Minister Muñoz, while specifying that "our world has continued to change, foreign policy has to be renewed, be up to date, adapt to new scenarios and ours has".

It this sense, he explained that "Chile has displayed a foreign policy based on its active participation in the multilateral system, the search for regional integration, its growing involvement in the world's economy to extend bridges and compromises, and in the consistent work to ensure peace and international safety".

On her part, President Michelle Bachelet, who received a copy of the book from the Foreign Minister's hands, declared that the text "is more than a account of how Chilean foreign policy has developed throughout history. It is the realisation, with concrete and objective facts, that Chilean vocation for peace is an indisputable reality. We are a country that fulfils its duties with the international community and that also, and certainly, asserts its rights".

"Historically, our country has worked to achieve peace in the region and in the world, which has led for us to be distinguished as the first Latin American country to be included in the Global Peace Index, followed by Costa Rica and Uruguay" concluded the dignitary.

Characteristic of the Text

The book, which has 220 pages and is written both in English and Spanish, underlines the principles of Chile's Foreign Policy, its efforts to build bonds with the region and the world, some of its most prominent personalities in the international scene and the biggest challenges in this area.

It has a total of five chapters: "Chile and the International System"; "Chile and the world"; "Chile and the region"; "Chile and its neighbours"; "Chile and its challenges". Each one of them includes envelopes built with translucent paper and that hold different "gifts" for the reader, such as a replica of the letter with which the consul at the moment, Pablo Neruda, informed of the relocation of the Spanish refugees aboard the Winnipeg; a postcard from ALMA observatory; the border treaties with neighbouring countries, amongst others.

The design allows the reader to read the text in a lineal way or divided into sections, for each chapter has modular divisions that highlight certain specific contents- This way of organizing information makes the reading agile and dynamic.

The book will be soon distributed in the libraries across the country.