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Chile backs German chancellor's call for dialogue with Bolivia

Xinhua, November 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

Chilean Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz said on Wednesday that he agreed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's call for dialogue between Bolivia and Chile.

Merkel recommended that Chile and Bolivia renew dialogue to settle a border dispute when Bolivian President Evo Morales visited Germany on Wednesday.

"Chile has consistently called for dialogue. There must be dialogue and not unilateral demands as Bolivia has done," Munoz told journalists.

"Chile has proposed the restart of talks based on the 13-point agenda...we have offered to restore diplomatic ties at once and without conditions. I believe this is a message to the Bolivian government, telling them there must be no unilateral demands," he added.

During Morales' visit to Berlin, Merkel indicated her respect for Bolivia's maritime route demands and added that "this is to be discussed with Chile. There were conversations for a long time, (and) it would be good to renew these conversations".

In September, the International Court of Justice in the Hague rejected an objection lodged by Chile and stated that it was authorized to judge the Bolivian demand to negotiate a sovereign access route to the Pacific Ocean.

The Morales government first sued Chile at the Hague in 2013, arguing for incomplete "expected demands" concerning giving Bolivia access to the sea.

During a war in which it fought against Chile and alongside Peru (1879-1883), Bolivia lost much of its territory, including the coastline, which it has been demanding the recovery of its lost maritime access ever since. Endi