The Mexican government said on Tuesday it hopes that Bolivia's nationalization of its natural gas industry will not affect a Mexican plan to import gas from the Andean country.

Ruben Aguilar, spokesman for Mexican President Vicente Fox, told reporters that "Mexico respects other countries and Bolivia is acting within its sovereign rights in carrying out these acts."

He added that "the Bolivians have made known their interest in exporting gas to Mexico."

Bolivian President Evo Morales signed a decree Monday on the nationalization of all Bolivia's oil and gas resources, sending the army to control some properties.

He announced that he would do the same with the country's other natural resources.

Mexico is planning to create a gasification plant on the Pacific Coast to process imported gas from Bolivia and sell it to California of the United States.

Aguilar said Mexican energy officials had met Bolivian officials in recent weeks to discuss the topic.

Bolivia has a reserve of about 48.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the second largest deposit in South America, which is being exploited by about 20 foreign firms.

Morales said the government "keeps its electoral promises ... and from this moment, the looting of our natural resources by foreign companies will end."

Mexico itself nationalized the energy industry in 1938, under the rule of President Lazaro Caradenas, to put an end to a conflict between foreign oil companies and Mexican workers.

Source: Xinhua