Mexico leader welcomes foreign investors

President Felipe Calderon said Mexico will intensify efforts to attract foreign capital _ especially from investors who may flee other Latin American countries that have announced the nationalization of key industries.

"While other governments in the world and in Latin America are thinking of expropriating their investments, in Mexico we are thinking of how to give guarantees so that investment increases more and more in our country," Calderon said Thursday in a speech to the Executive Board of Global Businesses.

Known by its Spanish initials CEEG, the group represents 36 international companies including Wal-Mart, Nestle, Siemens, DaimlerChrysler and IBM.

"You can be assured that every investment that leaves those regions of the world will be welcome in Mexico and guaranteed by the full weight of the law," said Calderon, a business-friendly conservative who took office Dec. 1. He did not mention any countries by name.

Last week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced plans to take control of "strategic sectors" in telecommunications, power, oil and natural gas as part of his push to convert the South American nation into a socialist state.

Several days later, Venezuela's foreign minister said the government could nationalize four heavy crude projects in the oil-rich Orinoco River basin.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, meanwhile, has announced plans to nationalize mining in his country after bringing the hydrocarbons industry under state control last year.

In Mexico on Thursday, CEEG President Julio Armando de Quesada said some of the group's members will commit to investments totaling $3 billion in the first 100 days of Calderon's administration. The investments should create more than 10,000 new jobs, he said.