CARACAS -- (AP) -- Adopting a more conciliatory tone toward business leaders who plan a general strike to protest new economic laws, President Hugo Chávez said Wednesday he won't object if Congress -- which his leftist party controls -- amends some of the laws.

 ``The government that I preside over not only will not oppose that, but we will encourage any effort to that end,'' Chávez said in a speech to owners of small businesses.

 Chávez, who had previously vowed not to change any of the laws, encouraged Venezuelans to submit their alternatives to Congress. Willian Lara, Congress' president, said the legislature could hold extraordinary sessions during the holidays to discuss the laws.

 Business leaders, many news media owners and opposition-controlled labor unions plan a nationwide strike Monday. They say the 49 laws decreed by Chávez under powers allowing him to bypass Congress will deter investment by giving government a central role in industries ranging from fishing to agriculture to oil.

 Fedecamaras, Venezuela's largest business association, especially opposes a land reform law that determines how the government can expropriate idle, private land. A hydrocarbons law almost doubles the royalty rates imposed on companies operating Venezuela's state-owned oil fields to 30 percent.

 Chávez previously dismissed the strike as a political maneuver by a disgruntled ``oligarchy.'' He insists the Land Reform Law will eliminate injustice in a situation where 1 percent of Venezuelans own more than 60 percent of the country's arable land. He also argues that higher royalty rates will create a steadier revenue flow for oil-dependent Venezuela.

 Government officials have been trying to persuade business leaders not to strike. On Wednesday, Defense Minister José Vicente Rangel met with the local managers of Kellogg's cereals, McDonald's fast foods, Procter & Gamble, Toyota and Domino's Pizza, among other foreign-based corporations.

 Many foreign companies say they will be open for business. But the Venezuelan American Chamber of Commerce, representing more than 1,000 foreign companies, endorsed the strike.

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