SANTIAGO, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, arrived in Chile on Tuesday for a three-day visit.

    The visit came after both countries signed a free trade agreement in 2005, which spurred bilateral collaboration, especially in trade and politics.

    Chile was the first Latin American nation to establish trade relations with China, with the opening of the China Import-Export Corporation's trade information office in Santiago in 1961.

    Both countries formally established diplomatic ties in 1970, promoting the development of bilateral trade, which has become even more active since 1978 when China introduced the reform and opening-up policies.

    Chile was one of the first nations that supported China's bid for membership of the World Trade Organization, which China obtained in 2001.

    In 2002, China proposed to begin free trade talks with Chile. The process began in April 2004, after a feasibility study led by the two nations' foreign ministers.

    At the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Santiago in November 2004, the presidents of the two nations, China's Hu Jintao and Chile's Ricardo Lagos, announced the start of the free trade talks.

    The two countries have since held five rounds of negotiations on market access, rules of origin, technical barrier to trade and trade remedy. The treaty signed in 2005 at the sidelines of the APEC in South Korea was the first such agreement between China and a Latin American country.

    Chile's main exports to China are copper, saltpeter, paper, pulp fishmeal, wood and other raw materials. China's main exports to Chile are textiles, clothes, light engineering products, electrical products and white goods.

    Currently, China is Chile's second largest trade partner, after the United States, and the third largest destination for Chilean exports. Chile is China's second largest trading partner in South America, after Brazil.

    With the coming into force of the free trade agreement, analysts predict a substantial increase in bilateral trade. Enditem