Chile and Japan Focus on Copper Mining: President Michele Bachelet Aims to Make Country 'Enormous Entryway'

During Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Latin American tour, he has strengthened ties with Chile, particularly in the mining sector.

Following the Chinese president's visit to the region, the Japanese leader began his nine-day visit last weekend. According to the EFE news agency, Abe met with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on Thursday in the Chilean capital of Santiago. The two leaders discussed economic and trade agreements between the two nations.

"Beyond the fact that our economic, trade and multilateral relations are auspicious, I want to emphasize that Japan's presence in Chile is also moving in other directions," Bachelet said at a joint press conference with the Japanese prime minister, according to EFE.

During his visit, Abe met with Japanese immigrants in the capital as well as those of Japanese ancestry, reports Prensa Latina. He also met with Chilean businessmen and went on a teleconference to participate in the opening of the Caserones mine.

The Chilean Diario Financiero reported that the Japanese consortium Pan Pacific Copper owns Caserones, which has been built over the past four years in the Atacama Desert. Nelson Pizarro, the former chief of Lumina Copper, oversaw the project. Pan Pacific Copper owns Lumina Copper.

According to Bloomberg, Pizarro has been named the new CEO of Chile's nationalized copper company, Codelco. The company will receive $4 billion in the following five years, and a proposal has been sent to the Chilean legislature to modify how the company is funded.

The Japanese company Mitsui has also made a deal with Codelco, according to Agence France-Presse, to develop "new uses of copper and more efficient and sustainable technologies for mining it."

To emphasize the importance of the mining industry to Japan, 90 percent of the country's investment in Chile is in copper mining. However, Bachelet also wants Chile, with its many ports, to be Japan's entrance into South America.

"I want to show you that Chile is a great partner and an enormous entryway to the Latin American region," Bachelet said in the joint press conference.