U.S. President George W. Bush met with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet at the White House on Thursday with the two sides having exchanged views about strengthening democracy in Latin America.

"We talked about the neighborhood," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office after their meeting.

"The neighborhood is very important for the United States of America. It's very important for our country to be engaged, working with friends and allies to help others," Bush said.

Washington has "very good relations with Chile, and I intend to keep them that way," he said.

For her part, Bachelet said that "Chile and the United States have very good relationship and we'll continue that way."

She said that "we have talked and shared opinions about how we can build a region in peace, how we can fight together against poverty, for social justice, how we can help strengthen democracy in the region, and how we also can look after issues as energy, innovation, education, health and so on."

Bachelet, 54, was the first woman elected president in Latin America. She lived in the United States twice, as a child and later as a single mother studying military affairs.

Source: Xinhua