President of Chile meets with the United States Secretary of State
Foreign Affairs Minister Antonia Urrejola, the Chilean Ambassador to the US, Juan Gabriel Valdés, and the US Ambassador to Chile, Bernadette M. Meehan, we also present at the meeting with Antony Blinken.
The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric Font, received a visit from the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in a protocol meeting in which they addressed global issues and challenges of interest to Chile and the North American country.
Diplomatic authorities from both countries were present at the meeting held at La Moneda Palace, including Foreign Affairs Minister Antonia Urrejola, the Chilean Ambassador to the US, Juan Gabriel Valdés, and the recently appointed US Ambassador to Chile, Bernadette M. Meehan.
After the meeting, the US Secretary of State went to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, where he held a bilateral meeting with Minister Antonia Urrejola. Together, they discussed the main aspects of the bilateral relationship, emphasizing the good moment in which this relationship currently finds itself.
At the end of the meeting, they made a joint statement to the press, where they provided details of what was addressed. “We were able to discuss a variety of bilateral, regional and multilateral issues in an extended meeting, together with our teams at the Foreign Affairs Ministry and Undersecretary Ximena Fuentes,” Minister Urrejola stated.
“As allies and friendly countries, we shared our viewpoints directly and frankly, coinciding in many areas where we can make substantial progress for the benefit of our citizens,” she added. The minister also explained that they delved into “the priority that the protection of the environment and the oceans represents for our hemisphere, a key part of Chile’s Turquoise Foreign Policy, and in line with the ‘Americas for the Protection of the Ocean’ declaration signed during the IX Summit of the Americas.”
The minister also stated that they talked “about the opportunity that the next commemoration of 200 years of diplomatic relations in 2023 represents, and how this will serve to take stock of our ties, learn from the lessons of the past, some of them very hard, and also plan for a fruitful bilateral relationship in the future.”
Minister Urrejola also emphasized that gender issues are a priority for both countries: “we will seek mechanisms to exchange good practices and include a gender and inclusion perspective in a range of matters that make up our vast and strong bilateral relationship. The Secretary of State is working intensely on this issue internally. We are very interested in learning about that experience.”
The US Secretary of State stated, “we have a relationship that has been bound together fundamentally by shared interests and shared values, and next year, we’ll celebrate 200 years of partnership. That partnership spans things that matter most to our people – from economic and security issues, where we have longstanding ties, to new areas of cooperation on climate, on energy, on health, even outer space.”
“We’re growing our economic ties. Since Chile and the United States signed our free trade agreement in 2003, trade between our countries has more than quadrupled, reaching more than US$38 billion last year,” the Secretary of State added.