Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heraldo Muñoz, accompanied President Michelle Bachelet in the 24th APEC Economic Leaders' Summit, held in Lima, Peru.

During the day, President Bachelet participated in many meetings with the 21 economy leaders of the block. These leaders gather each year to debate the future of the block and also analyze many topics in depth.

This year Peru led the Forum with the theme "Quality Growth and Human Development" in mind. The work focused on four priorities: advances regional economic integration, improvement of the regional food markets, modernization of SMEs in Asia Pacific, and development of human capital.

APEC members that participated in the debates were: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States and Vietnam. These countries represent 54% of the world's GDP; 50,3% of the world exports; and a market of 2.800 million people, equivalent to 40% of the world's population.

Minister Muñoz initiated his day, along with President Bachelet, assisting to a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key. After this, President Bachelet met with President of Vietnam, Tran Dai Quang. Vietnam will be hosting the next APEC meeting in November 2017.

At noon, President of the United States, Barack Obama, called leader members to a reunion on TPP Agreement. The economic integration treaty involves 12 countries of the Pacific: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, United States, Malaysia, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Along with President Bachelet and Minister Muñoz, the Chilean delegation present in the summit consisted of General Director of International Economic Affairs (DIRECON), Paulina Nazal, and Chief Negotiator of DIRECON's Agreement, Felipe Lopeandía.

In a press conference at the end of the encounter, Minister Muñoz reaffirmed his conviction that the TPPA "is an agreement that allows access to new markets and international chains.

After the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States, Foreign Minister Muñoz talked about the future of this agreement: "We have to be open to whatever happens. For now, we will have to wait. What we do know is that from now till the end of President Obama's administration there would hardly be any news on the agreement".

Minister Muñoz also emphasized the advantages for Chile in having an open economy to the world. "Evidence proves this has been positive for Chile and other countries. What would be negative would be to raise protectionist barriers, which would mean less prosperity and less employment".

After this, Minister Muñoz accompanied President Bachelet to the General Dialogue between APEC leaders and the Pacific Alliance, integrated by Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Chile. Finally, both authorities attended a dialogue between leaders and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook.