Carolina Pimentel
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva affirmed today (11) that promoting South American integration and reducing social equality are goals shared by Brazil and Chile. Lula was greeting the Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, who is in Brazil on an official visit.

"In a world marked by an unjust globalization and new threats, Chile and Brazil are betting on the strengthening of multilateralism," the president remarked. He recalled that many people were skeptical about partnerships between Brazil and Chile, because the two countries have no common border. Nevertheless, Lula pointed out, their bilateral trade is growing every year.

According to the Ministry of Development, Industry, and Foreign Trade, the two countries did US$ 5.3 billion in business in 2005, and Chilean investments in Brazil reached US$ 4 billion.

The Brazilian president congratulated Bachelet on her victory. She is the first women to be elected president of Chile, which, for Lula, signifies "a maturing of Chilean society."

Bachelet, a Socialist Party activist since her youth, has a history marked by resistance to the dictatorship that ruled her country. Daughter of an Air Force general killed during the Pinochet regime, she and her mother suffered persecution and imprisonment.

Translation: David Silberstein