President Michelle Bachelet said on Wednesday that Chile was willing to hold talks with neighboring Bolivia on disputed issues, but she emphasized that any agreement to be reached must respect existing treaties.

"We want to have an agenda for the future," Bachelet told media after Chile's Deputy Foreign Minister Alberto Van Klaberen and his Bolivian counterpart Mauricio Dorfler set an agenda for the talks on Tuesday.

"I have been very clear in what I have said. We are willing to discuss all topics, but for us, the treaties that are in force remain in force," Bachelet stressed.

The agenda includes issues such as border integration, free transit of citizens, Bolivia's request for a sea access, economic cooperation and disputes over the use of the Silala River.

Van Klaberen and Dorfler also agreed to continue fighting drug trafficking, and to work together in natural disaster prevention and air traffic control, as well as education, science and technology.

Chile and Bolivia severed diplomatic relations in 1978, because La Paz alleged that Santiago was not taking its claim to a sea outlet seriously. Bolivia lost its coastline to Chile in the 1879-1883 War of the Pacific.

Chile's Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley told Chilean radio that his country was not going to move its borders "even one millimeter" during the negotiations with Bolivia, but was trying to discuss better sea access for its neighbor.

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2006)