Chile, the pro tempore president of the Pacific Alliance, will promote bilateral ties between the grouping and ASEAN during the visit of President Michelle Bachelet to Indonesia next week.

President of Chile Michelle Bachelet. (Photo: Punto Lontue)

Bachelet will begin her state visit to the Southeast Asian nation, a member of ASEAN, after taking part in an international forum in China on May 14, the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The president will attend an ASEAN-Pacific Alliance business forum to promote the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between 10 ASEAN member states and 6 free trade partners, namely Australia, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand.

During the visit, Bachelet is scheduled to hold talks with her Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo to discuss ways to boost the 2 countries’ bilateral relations.

Founded in 2011, the Pacific Alliance, including Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru, is the world’s 9^th largest economy with export turnover estimated at 445 billion USD per year.

Its GDP accounted for approximately 40% of that of the Latin America and grew at about 4% in average annually.

Meanwhile, the ASEAN gathers 10 Southeast Asian countries - 10 members: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam, with a total population of about 625 million people and a combined GDP of approximately 2.5 billion USD.

(Source: VNA)