Evo Morales, Bolivia's president-elect, will meet a United States delegation at his inauguration ceremony on Jan. 22, his spokesman said on Sunday.

"There is an official plan to hold a meeting between U.S. representatives and the president-elect," Alex Contreras told Bolivian radio in the country's administrative capital, La Paz.

Bolivian media quoted U.S. State Department sources as saying on Friday that Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state for Latin American affairs, would travel to La Paz for the ceremony.

Contreras said Bolivia has to "talk to representatives of all governments, whether they are from our continent, from Europe, from Asia or from Africa."

"We know that this (U.S.) mission that is coming aims to establish contacts that our government considers very important," Contreras said.

He said that the Morales government has to start governing with relationships that are bilateral, based on mutual respect, above all the respect of sovereignty and national dignity.

"Imposed diplomacy has ended. It had its time and it has failed," he said.

Source: Xinhua