US, Bolivia "close" to restoring relations

Oct 28, 2009, 1:32 GMT

Washington - The United States and Bolivia are 'close' to reaching an agreement for the normalization of diplomatic ties, Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said Tuesday in Washington.

At the second round of bilateral dialogue, however, the two countries did not agree on a return of their ambassadors to each other's capitals.

'We are close to reaching an agreement. We have established that we will keep working to reach a new framework agreement that will allow us to establish a constructive relationship,' Choquehuanca said.

Ties were cut off in September 2008, with the expulsions of the US ambassador in La Paz, Philip Goldberg, and Bolivian ambassador in Washington, Gustavo Guzman. The government of Bolivian President Evo Morales expelled Goldberg for allegedly supporting the opposition.

Choquehuanca met with Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero and with Deputy Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon in Washington.

Although a final agreement to restore ties had not reached, Choquehuanca said the dialogue was 'constructive' and 'promising.' He said he was 'optimistic' about the chances of success of talks which, he said, were to continue in the second half of November in La Paz.

Choquehuanca thanked the United States for the 'political will' to pursue talks further and said that Tuesday's meetings had made 'excellent progress' on all the issues, including aid, drug- trafficking, trade and political dialogue.

'Not everyone thinks alike. We all think differently. The challenge is to build good relations while accepting our differences,' Choquehuanca told reporters.

Otero said the meeting showed both capital's commitment to establishing better relations built on mutual respect.