Veracruz, Mexico – The presidents of Mexico and Chile said Friday that their countries will sign a “strategic association” pact to deepen ties between two of Latin America’s staunchest supporters of free trade.
The accord, billed as the first of its kind in the region, would expand on the two nations’ 1998 free-trade agreement to include cooperation on security, labor, culture and other fields.
It will be “a new bridge between the southern and northern extremes of Latin America,” Chilean President Richard Lagos said after meeting with his Mexican counterpart, Vicente Fox, in the Gulf of Mexico port city of Veracruz.
The two leaders did not give details of the new pact, but said they hoped it would be signed when Fox visits Chile in late January. Chile and Mexico both have similar agreements with the European Union.
Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department said the agreement will be supervised by a joint association divided in three groups: political issues, cooperation and free trade. The pact will also create a joint fund of US$1 million (euro850,000) a year to finance joint projects, including technological advances and studies.
Chile and Mexico renewed diplomatic relations only in 1990, more than 15 years after Mexico broke them to protest the military coup that ousted elected Chilean President Salvador Allende.
In 1998, they signed a free-trade deal that went into effect the following year and has led to a quadrupling of bilateral trade, which totaled about US$2 billion (euro1.7 billion) in 2004.
Lagos and Fox have been outspoken supporters of a U.S.-promoted free-trade zone stretching from Alaska to Argentina, a stand that has put them at odds with other leaders in the region.
A sharp divide over free trade emerged at last month’s Americas-wide summit held in Argentina, where Fox criticized left-leaning Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for opposing the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
Chavez responded by calling Mexico an “ally of the empire” for supporting the proposal, and by warning Fox: “Don’t mess with me.” In the ensuing diplomatic spat, the two countries recalled their ambassadors.
On Friday, Fox reiterated his call for an apology from Venezuela before relations could return to normal.
“We’ve said clearly that, in order for the situation to get back to normal, an apology is needed for Mexico, its people and institutions,” Fox said at a news conference.
Also Friday, Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos discussed progress at creating a regional customs union with his counterparts from Honduras and Panama during a meeting in Leon, Nicaragua.
Bolanos said that once the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA, becomes law next year, “we can make progress in negotiating (a free trade agreement) with the European Union.” CAFTA has been signed by Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
