In Athens: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto van Klaveren, meets with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece and focuses on the strengthening of bilateral relations

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto van Klaveren, met today in Athens with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, George Gerapetritis. At the meeting, which was attended by the Chilean Ambassador to Greece, Marisol Pérez, they discussed the main aspects of the bilateral relationship, reinforcing the ties between both countries, which contain important elements of historical solidarity and a marked convergence on foreign policy issues.

"It is an honor to be here, to have been received in this Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has a very significant role, not only at the local level, but also at the European Union and multilateral level. My visit here represents a gesture of interest in strengthening relations between Chile and Greece", said the Minister.

In addition, during the meeting they discussed the Advanced Framework Agreement, a modernization of the Association Agreement between Chile and the European Union. This agreement requires the individual support of the 27 EU Member States and the EU institutions as a whole, so instances such as this one are fundamental to advance in its concretion.

"We are including new areas in this framework. It is really a very advanced agreement and we hope that very soon, towards the end of this year, we will be able to sign it and we also hope, obviously, to be able to promote a rapid ratification process," minister van Klaveren mentioned.

They also discussed the coincidences that both countries have in oceanic matters. "Chile and Greece share the same reality. They are countries with great coastlines and great oceanic interests. And we are very interested in being able to promote ocean governance," said the minister.

In that sense, he commented that Chile wants to host the secretariat of the Agreement on Biodiversity outside National Jurisdictions to work with the objective of strengthening ocean governance. "This agreement, known as the High Seas Agreement, represents a very significant step and one of the few successes that can be seen in multilateralism in recent years," he said.

They also discussed Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. The minister of Foreign Affairs indicated that "the Government of Chile has been very clear in condemning in the strongest terms the aggression to which Ukraine has been subjected, which implies the violation of basic principles of international law, to which our countries subscribe". It should be noted that Chile has supported and co-sponsored various resolutions on this matter in multilateral organizations, such as the United Nations General Assembly, the Human Rights Council, the ILO Administrative Council and the Organization of American States.

Finally, the Foreign Affairs Minister referred to the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the coup d'état in Chile. "We are very grateful for the solidarity we received from Greece during years that were very dark for our country and for that same reason we also celebrate the good level of relations between both countries once Chile returned to democracy", he concluded.