UK's Brown hopeful for G20, says more to be done

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-31 16:03

LONDON – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday there was a lot of work to be done to pull together a deal to save the global economy at this week's G20 summit, but it could be achieved.

The meeting of leading nations on Thursday is being billed as a watershed in efforts to tackle a global financial crisis that has felled major banks and cost millions of jobs as the world faces its biggest recession since the 1930s.

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The summit's draft statement contains an agreement to avoid currency moves that would damage other economies and repeated existing promises to get economies back on track, but did not contain any specific details.

Stock markets around the world tumbled on Monday -- the latest dive in a crisis that has rolled on for nearly two years and sending a message that markets want clarity and conviction from the G20 this week.

Public anger is also boiling over and large protests are expected in London this week. Police said five people suspected of planning to protest were being held under counter-terrorism powers, after weapons were found in a raid in south-west England.

"I have got to do a lot of work in the next two days getting countries to agree to proposals that we have been working on for some time," Brown told reporters after meeting Mexican President Felipe Calderon in London on Monday.

"We are hopeful of getting a conclusion but a lot of great work has got to be done."

Officials have sought in recent days to downplay expectations for the meeting, with British finance minister Alistair Darling saying no specific spending pledges are likely and that the world's problems cannot be fixed in one day.

The draft communique -- dated March 26, 2009 -- said the G20 would need to meet again before the year end, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman stressed the London summit was part of a process that was "nearer to its beginning than to its end."

Five tests for success

Brown, who also met Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday, said he had set five tests for a successful G20 including agreeing to help emerging economies survive the downturn, cleaning up banks and improving regulation.

The tests also included a commitment to restore global growth, kickstart global trade and reject protectionism and ensure a low carbon recovery.

"When the communique of the G20 comes on Thursday we will meet the five tests," Brown said.

Brown is desperate to hail the summit a success, but faces a tough task to pull together a consensus, particularly with European nations warning against further fiscal stimulus steps.

Weekend news of bailouts of British and Spanish institutions have also put financial markets back on edge, following a more optimistic couple of weeks for global stock markets.

"The danger is that the outcome vastly disappoints the hype," US investment bank Merrill Lynch's chief investment officer said in a weekly note.

Brown has just returned from a whistle-stop trip to France, the United States and Latin America where he sought backing for joint G20 action given a darkening economic backdrop.

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