 In December 1994 he was nominated Director-General of the Banco Nacional de Obras y Servicios Públicos (BANOBRAS), the development bank for infrastructure.After this, he became Secretary of Energy in the Cabinet of President Ernesto Zedillo where he was also President of the Board of several governmental companies such as PEMEX, CFE and LyFC.Then he was appointed Mexican Ambassador to the United States from October 1997 to November 2000.