FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Hagel, Chilean Leaders Discuss Deepening Partnership
By John D. Banusiewicz
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Oct. 12, 2014 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with government leaders in the Chilean capital of Santiago yesterday to discuss deepening the U.S. military partnership with Chile.
Hagel -- who arrived in Chile from Colombia – is on a six-day, three-nation trip to South America that will include participating in the Conference of the Defense Ministers of the Americas, which begins tomorrow in Arequipa, Peru.
In Santiago, the secretary met with President Michelle Bachelet, Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz and Defense Minister Jorge Burgos. At news conference with Burgos after the meeting, Hagel noted he had met with his Chilean counterpart in Washington earlier this year.
“That was an important time for me,” he added, “because it gave me an opportunity to get a good sense and assessment of where Chile was on many issues -- where we could further deepen our partnership, our relationship, as we face many of the same challenges that the world faces.”
As a U.S. senator, Hagel said, he supported and voted for the U.S.-Chile free trade agreement, which marks its 10th anniversary this year. “I recall, vividly, some of the debates during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee [hearings] on the issue,” he said. “It was the right thing to do for Chile and the United States, and I think the results have been very clear on that point.”
Intensifying cooperation to address big issues
His meeting with the Chilean leaders touched on a wide scope of issues, the secretary said. “We started with a particular focus on how we can intensify our defense cooperation to address these big issues,” he added. “The world is not getting any less complicated. The world is interconnected in ways that we've never seen before. That presents tremendous opportunities and advantages for strong relationships and partnerships, and good governance and law and order. But it also presents new challenges as well.”
During his meeting with the Chilean leaders, Hagel said, he noted that as Chile develops its global relationships – particularly, its partnerships in in the Asia-Pacific region – the respect it enjoys as a security exporter and for its capacity and techniques will continue to be important in helping to build defense capacities for other nations.
“As we partner together with other nations, … they will need more capacity to deal these threats, so [Chile’s] role in that has been particularly important, will continue, and we appreciate it,” he said.
As a member of the United Nations Security Council, Chile has played an important role in helping to unify the international community against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Iraq and Syria, the secretary said, and he expressed appreciation for Chile's leadership in that effort.
Chile also is supporting the global response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, he noted. “Through trilateral programs such as the Global Peace Operations initiative,” he added, “we will continue to partner with Chile and Central American nations to deepen our security cooperation.”
He and Burgos also discussed Chile's peacekeeping leadership in Haiti, Cyprus, the Middle East and South Asia, Hagel said, adding that these efforts show that Chile's interests extend far beyond the Americas.
Shared interest in Asia-Pacific peace and prosperity
As Pacific nations with large and growing economies and economic interests in Asia, the secretary said, both Chile and the United States have a shared interest in the continued peace and prosperity and stability of the Asia-Pacific region.
“This year, Chile's navy helped lead a major part of the Rim of the Pacific exercise -- it's the world’s largest maritime exercise,” he said. “This was a first for any South American nation. And as the minister and I discussed, Chile could also share some of its other model defense capabilities to help promote stability further in Asia-Pacific.”
But even as the United States and Chile expand their cooperation in other regions, both nations remain committed to continued cooperation within their own hemisphere, “because transnational security challenges -- from climate change to ungoverned spaces, as well as effective responses to natural disasters -- requires the collaboration of all nations of the Americas,” Hagel said.
Enduring value of dialogue
“In this context,” he added, “the minister and I discussed the enduring value of the Conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas … and the importance of those conferences and the importance of the dialogue -- the exchange of ideas and thinking.”
The secretary emphasized the continuing U.S. support for Chile's leadership among conference nations in areas such as search and rescue cooperation, noting that Chile’s expertise in that area has become a model for other countries to follow.
“We share the views that all nations of this hemisphere must approach our common security challenges in a spirit of partnership,” Hagel said. “As President Obama said here in Santiago a few years ago, ‘In the Americas today, there are no senior partners and there are no junior partners. There are only equal partners.’
“That is the spirit of the U.S.-Chilean partnership,” Hagel continued, “and I look forward to working with Minister Burgos as we continue to strengthen that partnership between our militaries, between our economies, between our governments and between our people.”
