SANTIAGO, March 17 (Reuters) - Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday that she had begun talks with India about a free-trade pact during an official visit to New Delhi.
Chile already has more than 50 free-trade agreements with trade partners, including the United States, the European Union and China.
"We continue to deepen a 60-year-old friendly relationship, but also today to expand our commercial boundaries, beginning talks for negotiations on a free-trade pact," the presidency quoted Bachelet as saying.
Under an existing agreement, the only one India shares with a Latin American country, the Asian giant gives duty preferences to 98 percent of Chile's exports, while Chile reciprocates on 91 percent of imports from India, Bachelet said.
Bachelet said she saw a free-trade pact with India as a way to help combat the global financial crisis.
"The way out of the crisis is not via protectionist measures," she said. "What really matters is to keep expanding the exchange of trade, business opportunities and the possibilities of exchange between our two countries."
"We have a chance to show with India that the key to maintaining output in the real sector lies in encouraging free flows of goods rather than restricting them," she added. (Writing by Simon Gardner, editing by Philip Barbara)