MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

PM Brown sets out the “five tests” for the G 20 world leaders

PM Brown: “A decisive moment for the world economy”

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has set out five tests which world leaders will face when they gather for the G20 summit in London on Thursday and urged them to “rise to the challenge” of beating the recession.

Speaking following talks with Mexican president Felipe Calderon at 10 Downing Street, Mr Brown acknowledged that tough negotiations remained to be had and promised to do everything he can over the next few days to enable an agreement at the crucial summit.

He said that the meeting came at “a decisive moment for the world economy” and he was sure that leaders of the world's 20 most powerful economies want to come together to fight back against recession.

He called for “proper resourcing” of the international financial institutions like the World Bank and IMF to enable them to help return emerging market economies like Mexico to stronger growth.

This was the first test faced by the G20 on Thursday, he said, along with cleaning up the banking system; doing “whatever is necessary” to bring about the resumption of growth; resisting protectionism and boosting trade; and delivering a low-carbon and sustainable recovery for the future.

Mr Brown said: “These are five tests for the G20 summit - the tests the world must pass.

”We no doubt have some long days of negotiation ahead. These are difficult and complex problems. It will not be easy to reach the conclusions that I believe are necessary for the world economy.

“But I know from my talks last week and my talks today with President Calderon that the world wants to come together, so on Tuesday and the day after, I will continue to do all that I can to build a consensus and to enable an agreement to take us out of this recession and put the world back onto the path of growth.

”This is a decisive moment for the world economy. We have a choice to make. We can either let the recession take its course and retreat into isolationism and protectionism - that is a do-nothing approach that will push us further into recession - or resolve as a world community to fight back against the global recession that is hurting people in every country and every continent.

”These are the tests we face in London. This week, I believe, the whole world must rise to the challenge”.