The President of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, met with the President of the United States of America, Barack H. Obama at the White House, seat of the executive branch, as part of his working visit to that country.
On the occasion, the Chilean president was accompanied by Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno, Defense Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter and the Chilean Ambassador to the U.S., Felipe Bulnes.
After the meeting, the Chilean president said: “We have had a working meeting with President Obama, Vice President Biden and his team; we have discussed and made progress on many topics. Firstly, we reviewed the bilateral relationship between Chile and the United States . We have a Free Trade Agreement that was signed in 2004, which has enabled us to triple trade between both countries. In 2012, trade between the United States and Chile reached nearly 3 billion dollars.”
President Piñera later added:”We also talked about the agreements we have achieved with two states, as in the case of California, and the new agreement with the state of Massachusetts, in which we are putting a lot of emphasis on science, technology, biotechnology and everything related to information technology and knowledge. We are making fast and significant progress in this matter.”
For his part, President Obama stressed that our country is “committed to democracy, human rights and market-oriented economy. As a consequence, Chile has become a leader. President Piñera’s outstanding leadership will continue with this process of uniting efforts and maintaining excellent relations.”
President Piñera and his U.S. counterpart confirmed once again the deep and solid commitment that both the United States and Chile have with the Transpacific Partnership. This is an agreement that includes 11 countries on both sides of the Pacific Ocean that will soon include Japan. When that is achieved it will become the world largest free trade area.
The two presidents discussed the Visa Waiver Program “which we hope will allow Chileans in a few more months to come to the United States as tourists for up to 90 days, with no need of applying for a visa. That is definitely good news because it will facilitate the exchange of people , travel of Chileans to the United States and collaborate to improve integration and collaboration between both countries ,” said the Head of State.
Finally, President Piñera appreciated this visit saying: “We have achieved, through the efforts made by the Foreign Ministry and the working teams substantive progress that will translate into what really matters, in better life opportunities, better jobs, better salaries and a better quality of life for each and every Chilean.”