LONDON -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will discuss global financial supervision and coordinated measures to support the economy with U.S. President Barack Obama this week.
Brown will become the first European leader to meet the U.S. president, in Washington on Tuesday, since Obama's inauguration in January.
"I believe there is no challenge so great or so difficult that it cannot be overcome by America, Britain and the world working together," Brown wrote in the Sunday Times.
"That is why President Obama and I will discuss this week a global new deal, whose impact can stretch from the villages of Africa to reforming the financial institutions of London and New York, and giving security to the hard-working families in every country."
Brown said the two countries' historic "partnership of purpose" should be directed at fighting the economic downturn as well as terrorism, poverty and disease.
Britain is keen to get U.S. support for the bold aims of a G20 summit of advanced and developing nations to be held in London on April 2.
PLAN OF ACTION
Brown detailed a six-point plan on which world leaders should agree to lay the foundations for a sustainable economic recovery:
- universal action to reduce the depth and length of the recession
- action to kick-start lending so families and businesses can borrow
- renunciation of protectionism and a transparent mechanism to monitor commitments
- tougher international regulation, leaving no place to hide
- reform of international financial institutions
- cooperation on the environment and social policies to ensure a sustainable recovery
Brown underlined his fondness for America before the visit, regarded as a coup for the British leader following speculation his French or German counterparts would get the first invite.
"I have always been an Atlanticist and a great admirer of the American spirit of enterprise and national purpose," Brown wrote. "I want to do more to strengthen even further our relationship with America."
Brown said globalisation was a fact, not an option, and stressed the need for world leaders to work together.
"I see this global new deal as an agreement that every continent injects resources into its economy," he wrote.
"I believe that central to this new investment is that every country backs a green recovery for the future, that every country that wishes to participate in the international financial system agrees common principles for financial regulation, coordinated internationally, and changes to their own banking system that will bring us shared prosperity once again."
Brown last met Obama in London last year when the U.S. leader left the presidential campaign to tour several European capitals to show off his foreign policy credentials.
