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Norway

King Harald and Queen Sonja start state visit to Chile

On Tuesday, Their Majesties King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway began their state visit to Chile in its capital of Santiago after arriving safely to the Santiago airport. People are usually accustomed to the royal couple arriving in a limousine or other regal cars. However, in this case, the royal couple came from the aeroplane on a white bus.

The King and Queen were met by the Honorary Secretary and Foreign Minister of Chile, Roberto Ampuero. The royal couple arrived at the capital with a domestic flight, after coming to the country a few days ago for a short private stay in the harbour city of Puerto Montt in the south of the country.

Today, Wednesday, Their Majesties continue their visit with talks with President Sebastián Piñera. The royal couple will also meet and talke with the leaders of the Congress and the Supreme Court, as well as Santiago’s mayor, Claudio Orrego.

The state visit started on the 26th and will conclude on Sunday of this week. The tour marks 100 years of diplomatic relations between Norway and Chile. Chile is the second most important market for Norwegian companies in South America; therefore, a business delegation is travelling alongside the royal couple. According to the plan, the royal couple will also participate in a marking of the Kon-Tiki Museum’s initiative to return archaeological objects and photographs to the Easter Island.

Lately, the Norwegian press has emphasised that Chile is Norway’s hardest competitor in the salmon market. Chile is now the world’s second largest salmon exporter after Norway. Therefore, Norway hopes to achieve closer cooperation between Norwegian and Chilean salmon producers and make it easier to exchange knowledge about fish farming.

The visit will continue in the coming days in and around the capital before the King and Queen travel to Punta Arenas and Puerto Williams, located in Chile’s southernmost region, Patagonia (which is shared with neighbouring Argentina). There, common interests within research, resource management, climate issues and business activities will be highlighted.

The last state visit to Chile was in 1967 by King Olav. In 2008, Crown Prince Haakon also visited the country.

Royal Central will keep you updated on the state visit in the following days.

About author

Senior Europe Correspondent Oskar Aanmoen has a master in military and political history of the Nordic countries. He has written six books on historical subjects and more than 1.500 articles for Royal Central. He has also interview both Serbian and Norwegian royals. Aanmoen is based in Oslo, Norway.