BY JENNY BARCHFIELD

Associated Press

PARIS - Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe pledged to support efforts to bring clean water to an impoverished Bolivian city following a meeting Sunday with Bolivian President Evo Morales.  

Delanoe, a socialist, said he would support aid organizations in Bolivia to improve water infrastructure in the slum city of El Alto,  though he did not give details.  

Violent street demonstrations in 2004 in El Alto, outside La Paz,  forced a subsidiary of French utility Suez SA to cancel a contract to provide water there at steeply higher rates. The leader of those protests, Abel Mamani, was appointed Bolivia's water minister this
year. 

The demonstrations were part of the wave of protests that shook the country's political structure and helped lead left-wing Morales to the presidency in January.  

Speaking with reporters after the hourlong meeting, Morales said his country is in the midst of a ''social and structural transformation'' aimed at giving Bolivians control over their natural resources.  

Morales, who recently made good on his campaign promise to nationalize Bolivia's natural gas industry, repeated his pledge not to expel foreign companies operating in the country.  

''No foreign companies are being expelled or expropriated,'' he said, adding that companies ``have a right to recover their investments.'' 

Morales, who was in Paris following a summit of European Union, Latin American and Caribbean leaders in Vienna, also met with longtime friend Danielle Mitterrand, whose organization was spearheading efforts to bring water to El Alto.  

Morales and Mitterrand -- widow of late French President Francois Mitterrand -- met with representatives of other aid groups and members of Paris' Bolivian community.  

A crowd of Bolivians living in Paris waited for hours to catch a glimpse of their president. Maria Nora Carrazco said it was worth the wait.  

''It is incredible for me to see the man who is changing the history of Bolivia,'' the 72-year-old Bolivian said. ``We just hope the change will be for the better.''