Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escoba Thursday spoke highly of Chinese President Jiang Zemin's state visit to his country, saying that it was an honor to his country that President Jiang made Chile the first-leg of his six-nation Latin American tour.

Lagos made the remark while meeting the press after his talk with Jiang, who arrived in Chile earlier today for a three-day state visit.

The Chilean president said the signing of three documents by the two sides will further increase the technological cooperation, the conservation of cultural heritages and the promotion of rural economic development of the two nations.

On bilateral trade and economic ties, Lagos said the past years have witnessed rapid growth in trade, noting that China is currently Chile's fifth largest trade partner, while Chile is China's second largest trade partner in Latin America.

The signing of a document concerning agricultural cooperation will open new fields for the two countries to develop trade, he said.

Lagos also said that he had accepted President Jiang's invitation for the informal leadership meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) scheduled for the coming fall in Shanghai.

(Xinhua 04/06/2001)