Leaders Back Bolivia Gas Nationalization
South American Leaders Look to Price Talks After Accepting Bolivia Gas Program
By DEBORA REY
PUERTO IGUAZU, Argentina May 5, 2006 (AP)— South American leaders are making peace with Bolivia's decision to nationalize its natural gas sector, hoping to diffuse tensions sparked by the Andean nation's radical petroleum industry takeover.
The leaders of Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia also agreed to open talks on new prices for Bolivia's natural gas at a summit Thursday in the Argentine city of Puerto Iguazo.
At the summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva suggested that state-owned company Petroleo Brasileiro SA could reverse its decision, announced a day earlier, to freeze investment in Bolivia because of the nationalization decree.
"As a company, it will always invest wherever it sees a chance to obtain a return for its investments," Silva said after meeting with Bolivian President Evo Morales, Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in this city along the border with Brazil.
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Morales and Lula da Silva