Weekly Report - 17 February 2004

The governments of Chile and Bolivia (particularly the former) are making an effort to cool down the tension over the revival of Bolivia's oceanic access claims. On 16-17 February, Santiago became the venue for the resumption of regular bilateral meetings between deputy foreign ministers. Kept off the official agenda was Bolivia's core demand, but the Chileans were at pains to assure their visitors that their plans to privatise the port of Arica would in no way abrogate the 1904 treaty, which guarantees Bolivian goods free access to Chilean ports and storage facilities.