President of Chile, Ricardo Lagos, will arrive in New Zealand on Sunday for a three-day state visit, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark announced Tuesday.

New Zealand's diplomatic presence in Chile is its longest standing in Latin America, Clark said. The New Zealand Embassy in Santiago opened in 1972, and Chile also opened its embassy in Wellington that year.

The bilateral relationship has been strengthened in recent years through regular contacts at both official and ministerial levels.

Next week's visit to New Zealand will be President Lagos'secondsince winning the presidency in 2000, Clark said in a statement.

"Our two countries work together very closely in many international fora, including the United Nations, APEC, the World Trade Organization,and the Cairns Group of agricultural exporting countries," the prime minister said.

Clark said that in recent years, as part of the government's Latin America strategy, the relationship between New Zealand and Chile has been stepped up considerably.

"Chile is this year's APEC host and this visit gives us a good opportunity to review APEC's priorities and initiatives for the year," Clark said.

President Lagos will be in New Zealand from May 2 until May 4. He will be accompanied by Chile's ministers of foreign affairs, agriculture, and finance.

Source: Xinhua