Canada-Chile relations
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Bilateral relations
Chile is represented in Canada by an embassy in Ottawa and has three Consulate General offices in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Chile has also appointed various honorary consuls in Calgary, Halifax, Quebec City, and Victoria. Canada’s embassy to Chile is located in Santiago.
Canada and Chile enjoy a robust relationship underpinned by shared values and interests, demonstrated through frequent high-level visits and interactions, including at the leaders’ level. The two countries work together to promote democracy, human rights, gender equality, inclusive economic growth and international law, as well as to advance ambitious climate action. Following bilateral consultations on June 27, 2023, in Ottawa, Canada and Chile released a joint statement.
The Canada-Chile Partnership Framework, renewed in 2013 and supported by multiple agreements, has served as a roadmap for the expansion and deepening of collaboration between Canada and Chile in various priority sectors, such as the sustainable development of minerals and metals, science and technology, investment promotion, youth mobility, and education. Over the years, the Framework was renewed and expanded to include bilateral cooperation in the areas of governance and transparency, economic growth, the environment, climate change and migration.
Canada and Chile are close partners in regional and multilateral fora, including the United Nations, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the World Trade Organization, the Organization of American States and within the Summit of the Americas process. The two countries also work together in support of regional trade in the context of the Pacific Alliance, in which Canada is an associate member since 2017.
Canada and Chile enjoy strong bilateral relations and technical cooperation on environmental matters, facilitated by the Canada-Chile Agreement on Environmental Cooperation signed in 1997.
The two countries continue to expand their bilateral defense collaboration, which is supported by a memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation signed in April 2012.
Close people to people ties link Canadians and Chileans. Canada is currently among the top foreign study destinations for Chilean post-secondary students, supported by both Chilean and Canadian scholarship programs. Canada has several education initiatives with Chile, including the Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP) and the Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program (FMPBP). ELAP provides short-term scholarship opportunities for students from Latin America and the Caribbean, including Chile, to study or conduct research in Canada while FMPBP enables professors at Canadian post-secondary institutions to pursue short-term research and/or teaching activities as a means of exploring, creating and advancing institutional partnerships. There is strong collaboration between Canadian and Chilean Higher Education Institutions with over 185 agreements facilitating student and faculty mobility and research.
Trade relations
The Canada-Chile commercial relationship is diverse and growing. 2024 marked the 27th anniversary of the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA), the cornerstone of Canada’s strong trade and investment relationship with Chile. The agreement covers trade in goods and services, as well as investments, and includes side agreements on the environment and labour relations. The CCFTA has been amended on several occasions. A modernized agreement entered into force on February 5, 2019, which added new chapters on trade and gender (a first for Canada), technical barriers to trade, and sanitary and phytosanitary measures. In addition, several technical amendments to other chapters of the agreement were concluded.
Bilateral merchandise trade has nearly quadrupled since the CCFTA came into force in 1997, reaching C$3.44 billion in 2023. Canada exported more than C$989.2 million in merchandise to Chile in 2023, led by machinery and equipment, cereals, mineral fuels and oils, and pharmaceuticals. Imports from Chile totalled C$2.4 billion in 2023, led by copper, precious metals and stones, fish and seafood, fruits and nuts, and beverages.
As of 2023, the stock of Canadian direct investment in Chile stood at C$24.0 billion, making Chile Canada's second investment destination in South and Central America and 14th worldwide. Canadian companies are present in mining, utilities (electricity, gas, and water), chemicals, transportation and storage services and financial services. As of 2023, the stock of Chilean direct investment in Canada was valued at C$483 million.
Related links
Development
Canada’s development relationship with Chile has evolved from one of donor and recipient to one of development cooperation partners. Although Canada no longer has an active bilateral development program in Chile, the relationship continues to benefit from modest but targeted assistance. The Project Browser contains profiles of international development projects funded by the Government of Canada, of which Chile is a beneficiary.
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) invests in knowledge, innovation, and solutions to improve lives and livelihoods in the developing world.
IDRC undertakes programming in Chile both through its headquarters in Ottawa and its regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean, in Montevideo, Uruguay. Since 1974, when support from IDRC enabled many researchers to stay and work in the country despite the suppression of the social sciences, the Centre has invested in more than 280 projects with impacts in Chile. In recent years, such support has helped to increase the role of women in civic life; ensure that women and youth benefit from economic growth; test the effectiveness of regulations intended to improve nutrition; understand the connection between antibiotics and mental health; and improve the well-being of people in rural-urban territories.
Operations
Canada and Chile continue to expand their bilateral defense collaboration, which has grown in scope and intensity in recent years, particularly since the signature of a memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation in April 2012. Chile became a member of Canada’s Military Training and Cooperation Program in June 1998.
Partnerships and organizations
To develop effective responses to today’s most pressing global challenges, Canada and Chile work closely in multilateral fora, such as:
- Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
- Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
- Community of Democracies
- Equal Rights Coalition
- Freedom Online Coalition
- International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
- International Criminal Court (ICC)
- Open Government Partnership (OGP)
- Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
- Organization of American States (OAS)
- United Nations (UN)
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
- World Trade Organization (WTO)
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