Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said she wants to see China, Brazil and India have a greater role in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Bachelet spoke to reporters in Santiago ahead of a summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries in Singapore. She will also visit South Korea, where she will sign memorandums of understanding on defense and education, and China.

The APEC meeting, which brings together economies representing more than half of global gross domestic product, will focus on deepening trade links. Bachelet will use side- meetings with leaders to urge greater global regulation of the financial industry as well as reform of the IMF and World Bank.

Before the recent global slump, the Washington-based bodies “were not representative of global realities,” she said. “There are countries like Brazil, India and China that are world powers and economic powers and that have very little representation.”

Bachelet also questioned the custom that the president of the World Bank always comes from the U.S. while leadership of the IMF goes to a European.

The lack of representation from developing countries at global institutions has contributed to several crises, Bachelet said, such as the record high prices of wheat, corn last year.

The global economic crisis “was a political crisis,” Bachelet said. “There wasn’t the political will to develop financial oversight.”

Chile will call on developing countries to limit carbon emissions while developing economies cut theirs. Failure to do so could result in global temperatures rising by as much as 4 degrees Celsius, creating “serious problems for a lot of countries,” Bachelet said.

“There is no excuse for developing countries not to exert themselves as much as possible,” she said.

The APEC countries accounted for half of Chile’s copper sales last year, its largest export, according to the central bank. Chile is the world’s biggest producer of the metal, which is used in construction and auto manufacturing.

South Korea this year passed the U.S. and Japan to become the second-largest buyer of Chilean copper after China, according to central bank data.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sebastian Boyd in Santiago at sboyd9@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 4, 2009 09:38 EST