Brown says London G20 summit must bring "global new deal"

Feb 18, 2009, 12:42 GMT

London - The forthcoming Group of 20 (G20) summit in London should aim to agree on a 'global new deal' of unprecedented cooperation and shared responsibilities to tackle the worldwide economic downturn, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday.

Speaking in London, Brown said world leaders should strike a 'grand bargain' to tackle the global economic crisis.

That would require close cooperation on banking reform and fiscal stimulus packages as well as the acceptance of joint responsibilities and obligations.

'The old orthodoxies will not serve us well in the future. We've got to think the previously unthinkable, we've got to do what was previously undoable,' Brown told journalists at a Downing Street news conference.

'The cooperation that's needed around the world is not something that has been achieved before - but I believe it can be achieved to meet the needs of our times.'

Brown said his discussions with world leaders had encouraged him that the goals he had in mind for the G20 summit in London on April 2 could be reached.

'I think we are fashioning for the future a global deal, a grand bargain, where each continent accepts its responsibilities and its obligations to act to deal with what is a global problem that can only be solved with a global solution,' said Brown.

He presented his government's agenda for the meeting, due to be attended by US President Barack Obama, entitled Road to the London Summit.

Brown, who held talks in London Wednesday with International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and World Bank president Robert Zoellick, is due to have further preparatory meetings with European leaders in the coming days.