Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno Charme is scheduled to speak today at the United Nations General Assembly during the morning session of the 67th session of the General Debate.
Moreno Charme is expected to speak after Uri Rosenthal, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, later in the afternoon. Territory disputes between Bolivia and Chile have been one of the topics of discussion this year. On Wednesday, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales made claims of Chile’s “unjust invasion” of his country during the War of the Pacific during the early 1880s.
“Everyone in our country has a profound feeling that we must recover our access to the sea [and] we need the support of all you at the United Nations to put an end to this situation,” Morales said.
Based on a statement released by the Chilean Foreign Minister on Monday, it is expected that Chile will discuss the issues between the two nations. In the statement, Moreno Charme said that based on “the promotion and respect for the rule of law at the international level” nations must “comply with the treaties establishing boundaries.”
Relations between the two nations have not always been the best given the territorial disputes arising from war that involved Bolivia, Peru and Chile. A treaty signed by Bolivia and Chile left the former without access to the sea.