Mexico and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Mechanism

Within the program for modernization and joining the end-ofcentury world trends, Mexico includes a closening of connections with the Pacific Basin. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Mechanism is the principal political, economic, trade and cooperation forum in the region. Rosalba Ojeda sets out how this forum works under a plan according to which the developed economies support those that are in the process of becoming so, in order to thereby lessen the differences in level of development and create a sense of community among the members of the mechanism. This plan is sustained by the concept of open regionalism, a process that is more an integrating than an excluding force for those countries that are not part of the forum. On the other hand, the mechanism backs up the design of a new international financial architecture that contributes to establishing a more stable, predictable system with early crisis detection procedures, effective surveillance systems, and greater possibilities of assistance for affected countries. By joining the APEC, says the author, Mexico attains real possibilities of business and economic and technical cooperation, has timely access to evaluations about the economic performance of the region, and contact with first-level, state of the art technology sources. The author concludes by saying that Mexico will be the APEC headquarters in 2002, a situation that will give it a perfect stage for projecting itself into the political, economic, financial, cultural and tourist spaces of the Asia-Pacific region.