Mexico's president pitches tour to promote power market proposal

MEXICO CITY, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday he will launch a nationwide tour to promote his proposed electricity reform, which would amend the constitution to boost control of the market for the state.

The proposal, which would prioritize power generation from state-owned power company Comision Federal de Electricidad over lower-cost private producers, is being debated in Mexico's Congress.

The controversial reform push also seeks to put the state in charge of the country's nascent lithium industry, which Lopez Obrador argues should be directed by the government.

"The debate process already started in Congress," Lopez Obrador told reporters at his regular morning news conference. "We're going to do the same (across the country)."

Lopez Obrador added that he may travel to some states to pitch the proposal, or that he will send Cabinet members to campaign for it.

"I want the people of Mexico to know what it is I'm proposing," he said.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm visited Mexico last week to express the United States' concern over the plan, saying it could slow investment and development in North America. (Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Jonathan Oatis)