South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan held talks with his Chilean counterpart this week and agreed to work together to elevate relations between the two countries to a comprehensive cooperative partnership, officials said Saturday.

Chile was the third stop in Kim's four-nation tour of South America that already took him to Colombia and Peru. After Chile, Kim plans to visit Brazil. The Latin American swing is aimed mainly at promoting bilateral economic cooperation with emerging nations.

In Santiago, Kim held talks with Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno on Friday and discussed ways to boost all-round cooperation, including such areas as renewable energy, resource development, climate change, trade and investment and people-to-people exchanges.

In particular, Moreno expressed strong hopes that Chile wants to work closely with South Korea in the areas of resource development and renewable energy, and that South Korean firms will expand investment and presence in his country, South Korean officials said.

Kim and Moreno also agreed to hold a meeting of foreign ministers of South Korea and members of the 33-nation Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) on a regular basis, officials said.

Kim is the first South Korean foreign minister to visit Chile in 17 years.

Chile, which is rich in copper and other natural resources, is the first foreign nation that signed a free trade agreement with South Korea. This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations of the two countries. 

On Saturday, Kim held talks with Alicia Barcena, executive secretary of the Santiago-based Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and signed a memorandum of understanding on mutual cooperation.

The agreement calls for promoting joint cooperation activities on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as in other areas of common interest. For this purpose, they agreed to exchange information, technology and expertise, ECLAC said on its Web site.

Cooperation activities include research and education projects, capacity development and the exchange of experts, researchers and interns in areas of mutual interest. Likewise, seminars, workshops and conferences will be organized, it said. (Yonhap News)