British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told the European Parliament that the G20 summit in London on April 2 will do whatever it takes to create jobs and growth.
Gordon Brown was outlining his hopes for the summit to MEPS in a debate in Strasbourg this afternoon. At last week's European Council meeting, EU leaders said they wanted the summit come up with concrete action on fiscal stimulus and a new system of regulation for the financial markets
The British Prime Minister told MEPs that he believed the summit could see measures that would mean the beginning of the end for offshore tax havens.
He also made the case for doubling the resources available to the International Monetary Fund, adding that Europe would not walk away from the countries of Eastern Europe in their hour of need.
Gordon Brown told the European Parliament that Europe had to take urgent action to build a low carbon recovery and to make the economy sustainable. He also argued that Europe could not allow the economic crisis to be an excuse to renege on pledges of aid to developing countries.
The trip to the French city is part of a week of pre-G20 summit talks today which will take Mr Brown to Europe, the US and South America ahead of next week's crunch meeting of world leaders in London.
Earlier today, Brown met international banking chiefs in London. From Strasbourg, he is due to fly to New York, before heading for Brazil and Chile.
Brown's spokesman stressed the role of Latin American countries in easing the crisis. 'It is crucial that they are part of the debate about how we deal with the ongoing difficulties in the international economy,' he said.
Brown hopes the April 2 summit in London, which will be US President Barack Obama's first trip outside the Americas, can agree a global 'grand bargain' to help ease the world economic crisis.
With barely a week to go before the eagerly-awaited meeting, the US president has urged world powers to agree a strategy to kickstart the global economy, a day after unveiling a new plan to mop up toxic debt.
'We are living through a time of global economic challenges that can not be met by half measures or the isolated efforts of any nation,' Obama wrote in today's International Herald Tribune newspaper.
Brown and Obama spoke for 25 minutes by telephone yesterday, according to the White House, which added that the pair plan another call before the president departs for London later this month.
Efforts to agree a coordinated plan at the G20 summit have been clouded by signs of strains between the US and Europe over how to calm the global financial storm.
While Washington wants a coordinated international stimulus, most of Europe is suspicious of such a move and favours tightening regulation of financial markets and institutions.
