LatinNews Daily - 24 July 2026

*Chile’s foreign minister, Francisco Pérez Mackenna, has met with Singapore’s prime minister, Lawrence Wong, during a tour of Southeast Asia. According to a press release by Chile’s foreign ministry (Minrel), the two discussed bilateral relations and agreed on the need to strengthen cooperation. Minrel cites Pérez as emphasising the potential for cooperation in public security and tackling cybercrime. According to the Minrel statement, they also discussed artificial intelligence (AI) and how Singapore is implementing it at a government level. It also cites Pérez as highlighting “Chile’s interest in promoting Singapore’s ascension as an associate member of the Pacific Alliance”, a trade block comprising Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, as well as briefing Wong on ‘Choose Chile’, a government-backed campaign to attract high-level technological projects to Chile. According to the same source, Pérez also confirmed Chile’s “intention to move towards finalising the Green Economy Partnership Agreement” (Gepa), a trilateral trade initiative involving Chile, Singapore, and New Zealand, negotiations regarding which were launched last year. During his current tour of Southast Asia, Pérez has also visited Indonesia, where he met the country’s trade minister, Budi Santoso, and both expressed an interest in advancing negotiations to incorporate an investment chapter into a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa) which has been in effect since 2019. Pérez also met with the board of directors of the Indonesia Investment Authority (INA), a sovereign wealth fund, and the two highlighted cooperation in the lithium industry, which Minrel said “presents a major opportunity for Chile as a supplier of critical minerals for the development of local electromobility.”

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