Spanish:
 
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Spanish, Bolivian leaders to hold talks Thursday: Bolivian minister
AFP
MADRID
Petroleumworld.com 05 11 06
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Bolivian President President Evo Morales are to hold talks in Vienna on Thursday, Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said Wednesday.
The face-to-face meeting would come less than two weeks after Morales announced a decision to nationalise Bolivia's energy sector, which has caused concern in Madrid because of the perceived danger to Spanish energy group Repsol YPF, one of the leading investors in the country.
"A bilateral meeting is planned," Choquehuanca said here, adding that the decision to nationalise Bolivia's oil and gas assets was justified in order to strike a better balance between the interests of companies and the country.
Zapatero and Morales were to meet at the EU-Latin American (EU-LAC) summit in Vienna on Thursday, Choquehuanca said.
Last week in the Bolivian capital La Paz, a delegation of Spanish officials said they had reached a "good understanding" with Bolivia on the gas nationalisation plan and that they had faith in the guarantees Morales had given Spanish companies.
La Paz has given foreign companies six months to renegotiate contracts with Bolivian state energy firm Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB).
During the transition period, 82 percent of profits will go to Bolivia and 18 percent to the corporations.
"Before (under the old contracts), the firms paid 18 percent to the state and kept back 82 percent whereas now it's the reverse," said Choquehuanca, who insisted that "there do not have to be negative repercussions."
"There have been 500 years of the systematic sacking of Bolivia's natural resources," he said.
Choquehuanca stressed the importance of creating a clear legal framework for foreign companies operating in Bolivia, the poorest country in Latin America.
"We need to give legal security" to foreign firms, he said.
"Now all contracts will go through the Bolivian parliament," he explained, adding that "the former contracts were not legal."
Prior to nationalisation, Repsol YPF controlled 25.7 percent of Bolivia's gas reserves, which are the second biggest in Latin America after Venezuela totalling 1.55 billion cubic metres.
Bolivia's May 1 decree affected 26 foreign companies, including such heavyweights as ExxonMobil of the United States, British Gas, Total of France and Repsol-YPF of Spain, and requires them to turn over to the Bolivian state company the owership and exploitation of the country's energy resouces.
AFP 10 1450 GMT 05 06
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