[Bolivia] Morales:Nationalizing Energy Key To Ending Poverty

From The Business Online

THE HAGUE (AP)--Bolivia's President-elect Evo Morales said during a visit to the Netherlands on Thursday that nationalizing his country's energy reserves was key to wiping out poverty, but that changes should happen gradually to avoid upheaval.

Wearing an unconventional short-sleeved checkered T-shirt despite near-freezing temperatures, Morales greeted a flash of cameras and a barrage of journalists' questions after holding a working dinner with Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot.

He then boarded a plane Thursday night to France - the last stop on his European tour.

"We want to eradicate poverty and achieve social justice," Morales said. In order to achieve that, he said Bolivia must nationalize oil and gas resources and exploit them in partnerships with commercial businesses.

"We would like the oil companies to be partners, but not to be owners. We want to control the companies, so we are going to nationalize the companies."

Morales vowed to seek peaceful, democratic change as his country shifts to a left-wing leadership.

"Things are changing in Latin America and in Bolivia especially, but we want those changes to take place democratically, to avoid violence, and do everything through voting. Now there are great expectations and we know that we must deliver."

Morales is set to become the first Indian leader in Bolivia's 180-year history, after winning nearly 54% of the Dec. 18 vote on a pledge to nationalize energy resources.

Earlier Thursday he visited E.U. headquarters in Brussels, where E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana urged him to safeguard economic stability and judicial security to preserve EU investment in his country.

"Bolivia needs foreign investment to tackle its problems. Stability in the country is therefore essential," Javier Solana's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said.

Solana also pressed Morales to keep controls on coca, saying any unilateral decision to increase acreage limits to satisfy legal consumption would have damaging consequences for Bolivia.

Morales didn't address the coca issue while speaking in the Netherlands, but said he had received political support from European officials.

After France, Morales heads to South Africa and Brazil as part of a world tour aimed at drumming up support for his incoming government and showing he can hold his own on the world stage.

"During my tour of Europe I have been very happy to see how much solidarity there is towards the countries in Latin America. It will be useful to work together and look for solutions together."

The election of Morales, a Bolivian coca-farmers' leader, has drawn close U.S. attention due to his past opposition to coca eradication efforts and his ties to leftist leaders Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Fidel Castro of Cuba.

"Unilateral decisions on coca production are not welcomed," the E.U.'s Gallach said. "Any decision on this issue must be respectful of U.N. conventions."

Current Bolivian laws permit coca cultivation in 12,000 hectares of the Yungas valley and a 3,200 hectares in the Chapare region.

All coca was illegal in the Chapare until former President Carlos Mesa compromised with protesting farmers. Past Bolivian administrations and the U.S. government are convinced that an increasing amount of the crop is being turned into drugs.

Bolivia, the world's No. 3 coca grower after Colombia and Peru, may have produced up to 118 tons of cocaine in 2004, up 35% from 2003, according to the U.N. World Drug Report. Morales has said he would study expanding the area where coca can be legally grown.

The new Bolivian leader also spoke openly about the novelty of his new political life.

"I never dreamt of being welcomed by prime ministers and presidents in Europe," he said. "But now we have a lot of work to do."

The Netherlands vowed to keep up its close political relations with Bolivia and help Morales achieve his socio-economic goals by providing technological know how in the fields of collective farming, natural gas exploration and water management.

Bolivia's proven and potential natural gas reserves total 53.3 trillion cubic feet and are second only to Venezuela in South America, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration.

The Netherlands is the only natural gas producer in the European Union, supplying energy to Germany, Belgium, Italy and France.

The Dutch contribute EUR30 million annually in aid to Bolivia, making them the single largest bilateral donor, Dutch Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Judith Maas said.