Bolivia seeks Chinese investment

Mr Morales has worn his trademark informal clothes

While on a visit to Beijing, Bolivia's President-elect, Evo Morales, has invited China to help develop his country's energy sector.

One of Mr Morales' economic advisers said China could be interested in converting Bolivia's natural gas into environmentally friendly diesel.

Mr Morales will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday.

Correspondents say his left-wing stance and anti-US speeches may have already won him support in Beijing.

"For the government of President Morales, hydrocarbons is a fundamental topic, in particular the industrialisation of natural gas," Carlos Villegas, an economic adviser to Mr Morales, said in Beijing.

"He invited the Chinese government, through its state companies, to participate."

But Mr Villegas emphasised that China was not the only country Bolivia was assessing as a possible partner.

"We have made the proposal in Spain and France, and now in China... It doesn't mean that we are relying only on China," Mr Villegas said.

Bolivia is home to vast gas reserves and Mr Morales, who takes office on 22 January, has pledged to nationalise the country's gas industry.

Widespread opposition

During an earlier stop in Paris, Mr Morales said Bolivia was suffering under numerous unfair contracts with gas companies and said any future deals would have to be ratified in parliament.

Mr Morales said foreign firms working in Bolivia would also have to renegotiate operating conditions.

Correspondents say Mr Morales' plans for the gas industry are bound to provoke opposition from Washington, the Bolivian private sector - particularly in the east of country - and the large number of oil and gas companies who have invested hundred of millions of dollars in the country.

Throughout his first overseas tour, which has already taken him to Venezuela, Spain, Belgium, Holland and France, Mr Morales has dressed in informal clothes, which he made his trademark when campaigning for the presidency.

Mr Morales - who will become the country's first indigenous president - won the December election on pledges to increase social spending and turn away from free-market policies.

He was elected with nearly 54% of the vote, the biggest support for any candidate since democracy was restored in Bolivia in the 1980s.