Chile, US discuss political, security issues

Chile and the United States discussed political and security issues Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

The control and non-proliferation of weapons and the hemispherical security were among the issues discussed at a meeting held by the Chilean-United States Consultative Committee on Political and Strategic Affairs.

The two sides, headed respectively by Carlos Portales, directorgeneral of foreign policy of the Chilean Foreign Ministry, and Lincoln P. Bloomfield, assistant secretary of political and military affairs of the US State Department, also discussed transparency of defense spending and peace-keeping operations

The committee was founded in the 1990s as an informal diplomatic mechanism for exchanging opinions on political and military issues.

The previous meeting was held in Washington in January 2003.

Source: Xinhua