Bolivian President Evo Morales, who became the leader of South America's poorest nation last December, has stolen the show in Vienna following his May 1 decision to nationalize his country's energy sector, the continent's largest after Venezuela, and due to fears of similar actions in other countries.

There were few concrete results from the gathering of 60 heads of state and government, with a surprising moment coming when a bikini-clad Argentinian beauty queen broke in for a protest on behalf of Greenpeace.

In a final, 17-page statement dubbed the "Declaration of Vienna," the 60 nations said that the European Union and six Central American countries had agreed to open negotiations on setting up a free-trade zone.

But the EU said it regretted that it has faltered in forging closer ties to two other Latin American groupings, the Andean community of nations, which joins Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, and Mercosur, the South American common market joining Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, speaking as current EU president and the host here, said he was "very satisfied with the results" of the summit, with a goal set to double trade and investment between the two regions over the next five years.

But the main drama here came from Morales, who is a close ally of the anti-US Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and concern over the repercussions nationalist control of oil and gas resources could have on world markets.

On Thursday, Morales set off alarm bells when he said his government would not compensate foreign firms for assets they might lose in the wake of his decree, although he almost immediately modified his stance to strike a more reasonable tone.

Morales said after meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Saturday that the media had blown up his comments.

"We are victims of certain media who seek to make us (Bolivia and Brazil) look like adversaries. They cannot do that," Morales told reporters.

Both he and Lula said the powerful Brazilian energy company Petrobras would continue to negotiate with Bolivian authorities.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim said: "We will defend Petrobras and we will respect the interests of Bolivia."

Morales has given foreign energy companies 180 days to agree to new contracts with Bolivia's state oil firm YPFB, which will thereafter become the majority shareholder in energy companies operating in Bolivia.

On Saturday, Morales and Chavez were scheduled to attend an "alternative summit" organized by anti-globalization protestors, while EU leaders closed the official summit with a series of bilateral talks with Caribbean and Latin American partners.

With Morales, Chavez and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet all leading a sharp leftist turn in Latin America and with Mexico facing presidential elections which could take the world's largest Hispanic country in the same direction, EU efforts to strengthen ties have taken on added significance.

Organisers of the alternative summit want to see legal action taken against a raft of Western companies operating in Latin America, including Suez of France, Spain's Repsol-YPF and Britain's Monterrico Metals which operates in Peru, for alleged environmental and humanitarian abuses.

"We need alternatives to the disasters which globalization affords," said Brid Brennan, an activist with the Transnational Institute, one of a range of anti-globalization groupings set to take to Vienna's streets Saturday and vie with the politicians for attention.

"We want to appeal to people's consciences so they learn to live with less resources," said Tom Kucharz, of Spain's Ecologists in Action.

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