Noy to meet Chilean leader prior to APEC

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino will receive Chile President Michelle Bachelet at Malacañang today, just two days ahead of  the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit to be held from Nov. 18 to 19.

Bachelet arrived yesterday for a state visit and will be attending the regional economic forum, along with other world leaders like US President  Barack Obama and China’s Xi Jinping, according to Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indonesia’s Joko Widodo will be sending their representatives.

Chile and the Philippines will be holding bilateral talks.

“After the bilateral meeting there will also be agreements that will be signed,” Coloma said over state-run dzRB radio. “I just don’t have the details yet. After the signing of agreements, there will be a state luncheon in honor of the visiting president of Chile.”

Aquino will also meet with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto tomorrow on the eve of the APEC meeting.

The Philippines and Chile aim to expand trade relations.

Bachelet is the first Chilean head of state to visit the Philippines, according to Chilean Ambassador Luis Lillo.

The 64-year-old Bachelet  is a Socialist Party politician who became the first woman president of Chile in 2006. She is the first president since 1932 to serve two consecutive terms.

Bachelet is a physician and served as health and defense minister under her predecessor, President Ricardo Lagos.

A mother of three, she describes herself as an agnostic. Aside from her native Spanish, she also speaks, with varying levels of fluency, English, German, Portuguese and French.