Chile’s President Courts Tech CEOs, Prepares for Trade Talks With U.S.

President Clinton and Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, commenting from opposite coasts, said Wednesday their countries have initiated talks on a free trade agreement and agreed that formal negotiations should start as soon as possible.

Lagos, on a U.S. tour to attract technology investment in his country, announced the talks during a lunchtime speech in the heart of Silicon Valley.

“Together with President Bill Clinton, we have decided to initiate negotiations in order to have a free trade agreement between Chile and the United States,” said Lagos, who spoke by phone with Clinton earlier in the day. “And I think if we do the right things in a short period of time, we can have a successful conclusion.”

Early discussions between the two nations began in mid-October. Chile has trade agreements with Canada and Mexico, and Lagos said his nation will seek a deal with the European Union.

Clinton said in a statement released by the White House that any free trade agreement with Chile would “include labor and environmental provisions.”

Brendan Daly, a spokesman for U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, said there’s no chance an agreement will be reached before the end of Clinton’s term. The first meeting will be in Washington in mid-December, and U.S. negotiators expect to go to Chile in January. But he also said the administration is confident that Gov. George W. Bush or Vice President Al Gore would continue the talks.

The socialist Chilean president has been meeting this week with prominent high-tech capitalists in hopes of bringing new investment to his country, which enjoys one of the healthiest economies in Latin America.

Lagos and Oracle Corp. Chief Executive Larry Ellison signed a deal Tuesday that calls for the Internet company to provide software for a new online initiative by ENTEL Chile, one of the nation’s leading telecommunications companies.

Lagos also talked to Chief Executives John Chambers of Cisco Systems Inc. and Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard Co.

Lagos stressed at each stop that Chile is a stable, modern economy with an advanced communications infrastructure. He is also embarking on an ambitious plan to make government services available online and wants all Chilean students to have Internet access by the end of his term, in 2006.

Chile has focused on seeking a bilateral trade agreement with the United States since U.S. congressional opposition killed Chile’s chance of becoming part of the North American Free Trade Agreement.