British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today called on the new U.S. president to show further leadership on the global economy and not retreat into protectionism. Speaking at an international oil conference here, Brown also for the first time explicitly stated that Gulf states should have a greater say in the governance of the International Monetary Fund in return for contributing to a bailout fund for collapsing economies.
"The next stage of globalization will require even more international cooperation with American leadership central to its success," Brown said on the eve of Tuesday's poll that will decide between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.
Brown said that U.S. leadership has been vital in achieving coordinated interest rate cuts by central banks around the world and in setting up a meeting of the G-20 industrialized nations to hammer out a new economic order on Nov. 15.