Mexico foresees emerging economies playing a more important role in tackling global challenges and hopes the United States takes a more multilateral approach under the incoming administration of Barack Obama, according to Mexico's deputy foreign minister.
"It is quite clear that decisions that the international community will take over the next few years to shape the 21st century are to be taken by a larger number of states," said Juan Manuel Gomez-Robledo, undersecretary for multilateral issues and human rights at Mexico's Foreign Ministry, in an interview last week during his visit to Japan.
He said the deepening global financial crisis is "only another sign of a need to reshuffle the global architecture" to give emerging economies more say.
He also told a seminar held the same day to commemorate 120 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Mexico that the mid-November global financial summit held in Washington "laid the groundwork" for a new international financial system.
At the summit, the leaders of 20 major advanced and emerging economies, including Japan and Mexico, generally agreed to work toward strengthening the role of emerging nations in international financial institutions.
Gomez-Robledo also said emerging nations should play a more responsible role in global efforts to fight climate change, as they are now major emitters of greenhouse gases.