Bolivia seeks to rebuild strained ties with US

Bolivia wants to rebuild strained relations with the United States and hopes to exchange ambassadors with the new US administration soon, the South American nation's foreign minister said Wednesday. David Choquehuanca said Bolivia will present US President Barack Obama with an agenda, including plans for a trade deal that he said was rejected by George W. Bush's government. "We want to rebuild our relations with the US, and we know that they want a positive relationship too," Choquehuanca told reporters, saying his country would wait until the new US president was settled in office before pressing the issue. He said the Obama administration had congratulated leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales on voters' approval Sunday of a new constitution, which Morales had made the central platform of his presidency.