Australia. Chile tie up

Australia. Chile tie up

SYDNEY (AFP): Chile and Australia agreed here Saturday to strengthen bilateral ties and work together for progress at the APEC summit this week in Indonesia.

"APEC is extraordinarily important for us because today some 55 percent of our exports go to the Asia Pacific region and more than 40 percent of our imports also come from this part of the world," said Chilean President Eduardo Frei after a brief meeting with Prime Minister Paul Keating at his official Sydney residence.

Chile became the 18th member of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on Friday, joining Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and the United States.

Australia had earlier objected to Chile's entry into APEC, but Keating said it was only because of fears the grouping would become too large and ineffective.

The Chilean leader said Australia already invested in mining in his country, but "there are other opportunities, especially in telecommunications, infrastructure and new technologies."