President to meet with Chilean counterpart

SANTIAGO: Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil is due in Chile on Monday to meet with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and sign a series of cooperation agreements, officials in Santiago said.

Patil, who will visit Chile through Wednesday, is mid-way through her sweep of Brazil, Chile and Mexico, on a trip aimed at shoring up ties with the Latin American economic powerhouses.

Her April 12-25 visit to the region reflects the importance India attaches to building ties with "three of our most important partners" in the region, a senior foreign ministry official said earlier this month.

Patil travels to Chile fresh from her visit to Brazil, Delhi's largest trading partner in South America.

Chilean-Indian bilateral trade exceeded 2.4 billion dollars in 2007, 38.8 percent higher than the previous year, according to official statistics.

A delegation of business leaders from India's auto, information technology, pharmaceutical and steel industries are also accompanying Patil on this trip, her first visit abroad since being elected to office in July.

After Chile, Patil heads to Mexico, where Delhi hopes to boost trade to five billion dollars by 2010 from the existing two billion dollars.