Mexico looks forward to establishing a joint plan to support the struggle against world recession at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum on October 20-21 in Shanghai, China.

Gerardo Traslosheros, director general of the Trade Organizations section of the Economy Ministry, said in an interview with the local press released here on Thursday that the expected plan should be framed within the so-called "new economy."

According to the official, this concept will cover strategies to which the countries of the world have to stick, in order to enter the new world context characterized by technological advances and the Internet.

The APEC forum will count with the participation of the main economies of the Pacific Basin, a region considered as the most dynamic and with greater growth in the world.

Traslosheros said, "The most important is that this meeting would promote a further integration and joint efforts to pull the world out of the recession."

In order to face this recession, a multilateral cooperation is required in a more and more globalized world, he said.

At the meeting in Shanghai, the Mexican delegation, led by the President Vicente Fox, is interested in analyzing the issue of small-and medium-seized companies to determine how the sector of the information has an influence on them within the framework of the new economy.

APEC was born in 1989 as a response to the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific economies and its main goal is to promote the economic dynamism and a sense of community among the members, as well as to contribute to the growth and development in the region.

(Xinhua News Agency 10/19/2001)