Ambassador Welcomes

Dear Reader:

The first semester of 2006 has been an especially fruitful period in Chile-India relations. In Chile, we elected a new President. On 15 January, Dr Michelle Bachelet became the first woman elected President in South America. She took office on 11 March, with a Cabinet of which half the members are women, thus launching a new era in our country’s history.

On 8 March, a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) was signed in New Delhi between Chile and India, the first between India and any single Latin American country. Although modest, with a little under 300 products on each side, it is a beginning. The PTA is now in the Chilean Parliament. Once it is ratified and implemented, the plan is to move to a more comprehensive and ambitious agreement.