Chile–New Zealand relations are the diplomatic relations between the

Republic of Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Both nations are mutual members of the

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economy, economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Cairns Group The Cairns Group (Cairns Group of Fair Trading Nations) is an interest group of 19 agricultural exporting countries, composed of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakist ...

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

History

Chile and New Zealand are two

Pacific Rim The Pacific Rim comprises the lands around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. The ''Pacific Basin'' includes the Pacific Rim and the islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Rim roughly overlaps with the geologic Pacific Ring of Fire. List of co ...

nations separated by over 9,100 kilometers (5,600 miles). Both nations established diplomatic relations in 1948 and embassies were opened in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

respectively, in 1972. In 1973, Chilean General Augusto Pinochet took power in Chile after a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

against the government of former Chilean President Salvador Allende. During the Chilean military dictatorship, New Zealand did not break diplomatic relations with Chile. As a result, several protests took place in the 1970s and 1980s in New Zealand against the New Zealand government maintaining diplomatic and trade relations with the military regime of Chile. Throughout the 1970s, several thousand Chilean refugees fled their country, mostly to other

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

n countries and to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. During that time period, over 200 Chileans sought asylum in New Zealand. Since the end of the military dictatorship in Chile, relations between the two countries have greatly improved. Both nations have working holiday visas and have seen several official visits made by

Presidents of Chile The president of Chile ( es, Presidente de Chile), officially known as the President of the Republic of Chile ( es, Presidente de la República de Chile), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Chile. The president is re ...

and

Prime Ministers of New Zealand The prime minister of New Zealand ( mi, Te pirimia o Aotearoa) is the head of government of New Zealand. The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, took office on 26 October 2017. The prime minister (inform ...

and lower-ranking government officials. In 1993, Chilean President Patricio Aylwin paid an official visit to New Zealand, becoming the first Latin American head of state to visit the country. Both nations work together to combat climate change and improve global

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

and lobby the international community to help preserve

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. In 2012, New Zealand was granted Observer status for the Pacific Alliance, a regional group that includes Chile,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. In 2016, Chilean Foreign Minister

Heraldo Muñoz Heraldo Muñoz Valenzuela (born July 22, 1948) is a Chilean political scientist, academic, diplomat and politician; the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile under President Michelle Bachelet; former Assistant Secretary General, Assistant A ...

visited Auckland to sign the

Trans-Pacific Partnership The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), or Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, was a highly contested proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim economies, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singa ...

. In 2017, New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay visited Chile to attend the High Level Dialogue on Trade in

Viña del Mar Viña del Mar (; meaning "Vineyard of the Sea") is a city and commune on central Chile's Pacific coast. Often referred to as ("The Garden City"), Viña del Mar is located within the Valparaíso Region, and it is Chile's fourth largest city w ...

. Chilean state-run infrastructure fund Desarrollo País and H2 Cable, a subsidiary of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

's BW Digital, announced in 2022 that they were seeking a partner to begin work on the Humboldt Cable, which would help connect Chile to

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

. The two companies issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a strategic partner to supply and install the submarine cable system. The planned system would span roughly 15,000 kilometers, and connects Valparaiso, Chile, to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia, with provision for branches to additional locations including the

Juan Fernández Islands The Juan Fernández Islands ( es, Archipiélago Juan Fernández) are a sparsely inhabited series of islands in the South Pacific Ocean reliant on tourism and fishing. Situated off the coast of Chile, they are composed of three main volcanic i ...

Easter Island Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearl ...

, New Zealand, and

. Cost estimates ranged between $450 million and $650 million.

High-level visits

High-level visits from Chile to New Zealand * President Patricio Aylwin (1993) * President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle (1999) * President Ricardo Lagos (2000, 2004) * President Michelle Bachelet (2006) * Minister of the Economy Pablo Longuiera (2013) * Foreign Minister

(2016) * President Sebastián Piñera (2018) High-level visits from New Zealand to Chile * Prime Minister Jenny Shipley (1999) * Prime Minister

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

(2000, 2004, 2006) * Prime Minister John Key (2013) * Trade Minister Todd McClay (2016, 2017)

Transport

Chile's largest airline, LATAM Chile, operates flights between

and

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

Trade

Embassy of New Zealand in Santiago de Chile

In 2004, Chile and New Zealand signed a free trade agreement (along with

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

and

) known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (P4). In 2016, trade between Chile and New Zealand amounted to US$229 million. Chile's main exports to New Zealand include:

wood pulp Pulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibers from wood, fiber crops, waste paper, or rags. Mixed with water and other chemical or plant-based additives, pulp is the major raw mate ...

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

, and

nuts Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Com ...

. New Zealand's main exports to Chile include:

dairy product Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items in th ...

machine A machine is a physical system using Power (physics), power to apply Force, forces and control Motion, movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to na ...

ry, and

oil seeds Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed oils, or fat ...

. New Zealand's largest company,

Fonterra Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited is a New Zealand multinational publicly traded dairy co-operative owned by around 9,000 New Zealand farmers. The company is responsible for approximately 30% of the world's dairy exports and with revenue exce ...

, owns a 99% share in Chile's largest dairy company,

Soprole Soprole or Sociedad de Productores de Leche is a Chilean maker of dairy products. Under the Soprole brand, the company markets yogurt, milk, desserts, Jelly and butter. It is a subsidiary of Fonterra. History Soprole was created in 1948, init ...

Resident diplomatic missions

* Chile has an embassy in

. * New Zealand has an embassy in

.Embassy of New Zealand in Santiago
/ref>

References

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