Today, the Foreign Ministers of Argentina and Chile held a bilateral meeting in Buenos Aires. Foreign Minister Mondino and her Chilean counterpart, Alberto van Klaveren, discussed the main issues of the strategic relationship and suggested different activities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship of 1984, whose relevance and importance over the past four decades they highlighted.
They reviewed the bilateral agenda and made progress on the coordination of concrete actions that will make it possible to solve the main pending issues to improve current border crossing operations. As the winter season is about to start and, thus, border crossings will increase, the Ministers agreed to implement joint measures to reduce border wait times, particularly at the Cristo Redentor crossing.
The delegations also discussed the importance of concluding the pending infrastructure works in order for the Bi-oceanic Corridor to be fully operational within the estimated time. This corridor will enable the integration and connection of broad areas in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay, help increase trade, and benefit our peoples.
The Foreign Ministers also referred to the significant economic-commercial relationship between both countries and went over the figures of their extensive bilateral trade, as well as the progress made on the new trade agreement that came in force in 2019. In addition, they discussed energy integration and reaffirmed their willingness to deepen trade in liquefied natural gas (LnG) and hydrocarbons, electricity interconnection, and hydrogen cooperation. With respect to binational mining projects, they highlighted the importance of continuing to make progress on the Mining Integration and Complementation Treaty and furthering cooperation in lithium production through the Binational Working Group on Lithium and Salt Flats.
In line with the goal of deepening the strategic partnership on Antarctic matters, the Ministers commended the work done by the Binational Committee on Antarctic Cooperation, which coordinates common positions at Antarctic fora and promotes scientific and logistic cooperation.
In the field of security, they agreed to continue to collaborate in the fight against transnational organized crime and to strengthen bilateral police cooperation, thus reaffirming the commitments agreed upon at the latest meeting of the Brasilia Consensus on this subject.
Finally, they discussed the regional agenda and the different existing cooperation mechanisms, including the Brasilia Consensus, currently presided over by the Republic of Chile.
