Former Chilean president Eduardo Frey urges China and Chile to upgrade bilateral relations, as Chinese premier Li
Keqiang visits the Latin America, with his next stop being Chile.
"Annual trade between China and Chile wouldn't have surpassed four billion US dollars 20 years ago, while today, a quarter of Chilean exports go to China. Meanwhile, Chile's parliament and China's National People's Congress have signed strategic cooperation agreements and established regular exchanges. In addition, the Regional Center of
Confucius Institutes for Latin America has been set up in Chile, while organizations devoted to bilateral cultural exchange have been operational for decades. All of these reflect the traditional friendship of China and Chile."
The two countries signed a free trade agreement in 2005. And China has become the largest trading partner for Chile since the agreement took effect.
Frey says that China imports huge amounts of fruit from Chile every year and he speaks highly of the achievements on bilateral trade.
"China is the largest trade partner of Chile, the largest buyer of our apples, grapes, cranberrys and cherrys. More than 70 percent of cherry products sold in China during the annual Spring Festival are imported from Chile.
Meanwhile, we also export a large quantity of beef, pork and chicken to China. Chile is also China's second largest grape wine supplier and a major copper exporter to China, while we mainly import industrial products from China."
Frey also suggests China should continue investments in infrastructure construction in Chile.
