Foreign transnationals are welcome in areas such as oil and gas, although the law gives the state the upper hand.

ECONOMIST: Venezuela's economic policy

Just days earlier the president had taken a similar decision in relation to the cement industry: three foreign transnationals Mexico's Cemex, France's Lafarge, and Holcim of Switzerland which supply most of the local market, are being offered a joint-venture scheme like the one applied last year to the oil companies in the Orinoco heavy-oil belt.

ECONOMIST: Venezuela