CARACAS, July 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Venezuela on Tuesday congratulatedthe Bolivian government on conducting a successful referendum on natural gas policy.

    "Bolivia won the concept of the integration of the South; won the people and the belief that the state has a role to play. Here we have moved in that direction for five years and congratulate the Bolivians for incorporating now into the process," Venezuela'sCommunication and Information Minister Jessy Chacon said at a press conference after a cabinet meeting.

    Chacon said the result was "a negation of neoliberalism and a negation of the policy that places the market against the human being."

    "We congratulate the Bolivians on moving from now along the same path of the revolution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela," he added.

    The partial results of the Sunday's referendum show the approval of the five questions proposed by the government in orderto define Bolivia's new energy policy.

    "We feel very well with the results of the referendum because it backed the Bolivian president and because the people said no tothe loss of control over their resources," Chacon said.

    "People said no to the hydrocarbon-resources law of ex-president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, which was similar to the one the opposition wanted to impose here. Now the Bolivians are ownersof their energy sector again," he added.

    Bolivia has the second largest gas reserves in South America behind oil-rich Venezuela. Enditem