Economy & Business - March 2005

A crucial national congress (the XIX) of Mexico's biggest political party, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional agreed on 4 March, the party's 76th birthday, to modify its hostility to allowing private companies into the energy and electricity industries. The party reaffirmed that oil and electricity were strategic industries and should remain under state control but it did not rule out reform. The fact the PRI did not specifically rule out private sector involvement in the energy industry was seized on by the government, and some foreign commentators, as a major change in the PRI's stance.