UK and UN "committed" to poor nations

Gordon Brown and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon have said they are committed to helping the world’s poorest nations at the G20.

The two met in New York today during the Prime Minister’s tour of some of the world’s major economies ahead of next week’s summit in London.

In a press conference after their meeting, Mr Brown said it was the G20’s “duty” to help other nations to restructure their financial institutions and take advantage of the benefits of trade.

He said:

“I think we are recognizing that the Washington Consensus on economic policy is over, that the old world has gone, that we have got to build a new consensus on economic development for the future and we have got to send the message to every country that doing nothing is not an option.”

The UN Secretary General said he had written to the leaders of G20 nations asking them to commit to a large fiscal stimulus for developing nations.

He said:

“G20 countries should commit to sustaining an international stimulus package on top of their national stimulus packages. It needs to be of a very substantial size.”

However, both men said the exact amount would have to be agreed by leaders at the summit next week.

Mr Brown said they had also discussed the situation in Sudan, and he wanted to send a message to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir that aid agencies should be allowed back into the country.

The PM said:

“I want the whole world to ask him [al-Bashir] to remove the ban on humanitarian agencies; to recognise that they are absolutely essential to the protection of the people of Sudan.”

Earlier today, Mr Brown took part in live interviews with the Wall Street Journal and New York University.