Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heraldo Muñoz, accompanied by the Chilean Agent before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Felipe Bulnes; Coagents Claudio Grossman and Maria Teresa Infante; and consultant, Alberto Van Klaveren, met this afternoon at La Moneda with President of the Republic, Michelle Bachelet.
During the meeting, the President was informed on the preparations being made for oral arguments before the ICJ, in connection with the review of the preliminary objections raised by Chile against Bolivia's claim, scheduled to take place May 4th-8th at The Hague.
After the meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs remarked that "we have worked seriously and responsibly to defend the interests of the country. We are very confident in our legal arguments to defend the position of Chile in political and communications fields."
Minister Muñoz also stressed his confidence in the position of our country, stating that, "we have worked intensively both in Chile and abroad. For this reason, we are prepared to defend the national interest with these oral arguments."
He reiterated that the Court "does not have jurisdiction over an issue that has been resolved by an international treaty, which is the 1904 Boundary Treaty between the two countries and established, in perpetuity, the borders between Bolivia and Chile."
Agent Felipe Bulnes reassured that he has undertaken serious work, both legally and diplomatically, and Chileans should be "very reassured that its various teams are making every possible effort to solidly defend the interests of our country."
Hours before the meeting, the Foreign Minister held a working lunch with members of the Foreign Affairs committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate where discussed different issues on the international agenda, with an emphasis on neighborhood and regional relations.
After the lunch, Deputy Jorge Tarud, president of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, referring to the Bolivian demand, said that "all of the Chilean political forces represented in Parliament, absolutely and unanimously, stand behind the Foreign Minister and behind the President of the Republic to defend our sovereignty."