Minister of Foreign Affairs meets with his Mexican counterpart and signs collaboration agreements

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto van Klaveren, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Alicia Bárcena, who is in Chile on a work visit. The authorities held a private meeting and, later, an extended meeting, where they addressed the main subjects of the bilateral relationship, made an assessment of the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in July, and discussed the modernization of this instrument.

They also discussed the role of the Pacific Alliance in regional integration and Chile's proposal for Valparaíso to host the Secretariat of the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdictions (BBNJ).

In the meeting, they talked about the situation in Venezuela. In this context, the Minister van Klaveren said that Chile will continue to advocate for the electoral results to be known and respected, and that all diplomatic instances that advance in this direction will be exhausted.

Subsequently, both foreign affairs ministers headed the VIII Meeting of the Council of the Strategic Association Agreement, the highest level mechanism for the definition of the bilateral agenda. At the meeting, they reported on the work carried out by the three commissions that make up the Council: Political Affairs, Cooperation and Free Trade.

At the occasion, Minister van Klaveren pointed out that with Mexico “we share a very dense history of diplomatic relations and solidarity between both countries”, and added that “today we have a shared agenda with a very complete bilateral relationship in all areas, which is enshrined in the Association Agreement”.

At the end of the meeting, the authorities signed the final minutes of the Council; a memorandum of understanding on Feminist Foreign Policy; a memorandum of understanding on Cooperation between Diplomatic Academies, and Decision Nº 16 for the Establishment of the Working Group for the adhesion of Costa Rica to the Framework Agreement of the Pacific Alliance. In addition, Foreign Affairs Minister Bárcena signed a memorandum of understanding on Indigenous Cooperation.