Bolivian president seeks consensus on social development

Bolivian President Evo Morales appealed to all social sectors to build a social pact as part of a new development agenda for Bolivia. "I need a new command from the people. In December, we will discuss a new agenda for the national development plan," Morales said. He wants to include in this discussion "all the social sectors led by the Bolivian Labor Center, the miners, the members of cooperatives, employees, oil workers, the farmers and indigenous community, as well as patriotic businessmen and intellectuals." Morales said he was making this call because his government had finished all the tasks proposed in the Oct. 2003 agenda, including the nationalization of the hydrocarbons industry, the establishment of the Constituent Assembly and the approval of a new State. Speaking at a public rally of about 200,000 people, Morales apologized for the mistakes made by his government and said it was necessary to get wider public support to strengthen the change process. He also highlighted a number of challenges his government had successfully overcome, such as increasing state investments from 600 million dollars in 2006 to 3.6 billion U.S. dollars, and the foreign currency reserve from 1.7 billion dollars in 2005 to more than 11 billion dollars in 2011.