Australia. Chile tie up

Mon, 14 Nov 1994, 00:00 WIB | Source: AFP

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."

View JSON | Print