Chinese, Chilean presidents meet on bilateral ties

SINGAPORE, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao met with his Chilean counterpart Michelle Bachelet Jeria Friday in Singapore to discuss ways of further developing the friendly cooperative ties between the two countries and other issues of common concern.

The two leaders held talks ahead of the Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) scheduled for Nov. 14-15.

China-Chile relations have developed smoothly since the two countries forged diplomatic ties 39 years ago. In 2004, the two countries established all-round cooperative partnership.

Recent years have witnessed frequent high-level exchanges, increasing political mutual trust, fast expansion of economic and trade cooperation and growing friendly exchanges in the fields of education, culture, science and technology, as well as tourism between China and Chile.

Chile is China's third largest trading partner in Latin America while China is Chile's second largest trade partner in the world.

In 2008, two-way trade between the two countries reached 17.5 billion U.S. dollars, up 19 percent over the previous year.