Chile’s President Jose Antonio Kast has travelled to Bolivia for the first state visit by a Chilean leader in more than 70 years.
Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz received him with a red-carpet welcome.
The two neighbours do not have full diplomatic relations and have had only consular ties since 1978. Bolivia has been landlocked since it lost a war against Chile nearly 150 years ago, costing it 400km of Pacific coastline. It has demanded a sovereign corridor to the ocean, which Chile refuses.
Paz, Bolivia’s new conservative president, said the challenge is not to resolve the past but to focus on the present and a shared future. “We need to push our integration process, because as Chile’s president says, if Bolivia progresses, so does Chile,” he said.
Kast said: “That our children will not have to wait 70 years to see their presidents shake hands.”
Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman reports from Santiago.
Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe
Follow us on X: https://x.com/AJEnglish
Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera
Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com/
Check out our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraenglish/
Download AJE Mobile App: https://aje.io/AJEMobile
#AlJazeeraEnglish #Chile #Bolivia #JoseAntonioKast #RodrigoPaz #News