EXCLUSIVE-INTERVIEW-Mugabe says wants closer ties with West

* Zimbabwe's president says prepared to talk to U.S. and EU

* Zimbabwean control of mines, other resources remains aim

By Cris Chinaka

HARARE, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe wants normal ties with Western powers critical of its policies but will press ahead with a plan to hand control of foreign companies to local blacks, President Robert Mugabe said.

Mugabe told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that his government was waiting for positive movement from the United States and European Union to mend ties soured over the last decade by rows over the seizures of white-owned farms for landless blacks and charges of rights abuses and election fraud.

"We never refuse to talk to anybody," he said when asked whether he was prepared to talk to Washington and Brussels.

"But what I don't understand about the Europeans and the Americans is the negative attitude. How do they expect the kind of cold war they decided to wage on us, how do they intend it to end?"

Talks to improve ties with the EU have stalled over slow political reforms in Harare while U.S. President Barack Obama said last month he was "heartbroken" by Zimbabwe's decline.