Chile's President Kast Pays State Visit to La Paz, Signs Cooperation Deals With Bolivia
LA PAZ — Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast has paid a state visit to Bolivia, the first visit to La Paz by a Chilean president in 71 years. Kast held talks with Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz, and the two countries signed a series of cooperation agreements on October 16 covering trade, mining, energy, digital connectivity, border security and the fight against organized crime.
One memorandum of understanding commits the two governments to study a fiber-optic corridor across Bolivia that would link the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the continent. Reports on the agreement note that the memorandum authorizes a study rather than spending: no construction timeline, operator or financing arrangement has been set.
Bolivia's long-standing claim to sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean was not addressed in the October 16 documents. The Paz government has deliberately kept the historic dispute separate from a parallel, pragmatic agenda of economic and commercial cooperation with Chile. (GSM report)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 玻利维亚政府所在地拉巴斯市区。照片：Wikimedia Commons（CC0）。Downtown La Paz, seat of Bolivia's government. Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC0).
