VIENNA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Bolivia's President Evo Morales defended his decision to nationalize the oil and gas industry in his country.

    "Any president has the sovereign right to defend strategic resources of the country," Morales told a press conference prior to the EU-Latin Summit in Vienna on Thursday.

    He said his decision was merely to "exercise our ownership of our national resources."

    However, Morales said he welcomed foreign companies to cooperate with Bolivia in exploring oil and gas resources, but the companies couldn't have the ownership.

    "What we are looking for are partners not bosses that exploit our oil resources. We are not chasing out anyone. But they cannot have ownership," he said.

    Last week, Morales announced the nationalization of Bolivia's gas industry, grabbing world-wide attention, especially from Europe and Brazil, which have companies involved in oil and gas fields in the country.

    As of May 1, Bolivia took control of the country's oil and gas fields and gave foreign energy companies operating in the country 180 days to agree to new contracts with the government.

    Morales also told the briefing that oil companies including Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Spain's Repsol YPF SA wouldn¡¯t be compensated.

    "There is no reason to indemnify them," he said.

    According to Morales, 70% of the contracts signed by foreign petroleum companies had not yet been ratified by the Bolivian parliament, so they were "unconstitutional" and "illegal."

    As some European companies, Spanish ones in particular, are affected by Morales's nationalization drive, energy is widely expected to be a hot issue at the three-day EU-Latin summit. Enditem