DUBAI: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday he believed Gulf states would announce extra money for an IMF bailout fund at this month's G20 summit in Washington on the world financial crisis.
Brown is on the last day of a tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates trying to persuade the energy rich region to top up the International Monetary Fund's 250 billion dollar emergency bailout pot.
The British premier says hundreds of billions of extra dollars are needed to stop financial "contagion" spreading. The IMF is already bailing out Iceland, Ukraine and Hungary.
"When we come to Washington... I believe we will see countries coming together to make their statements about what they can contribute," he told reporters in Dubai.
"There's been a positive response but it's not my job to announce funds, it's a matter for the IMF when they talk to the individual countries."
The G20, which includes both Britain and Saudi Arabia, is meeting in Washington on November 15 for crunch talks on the crisis and will also discuss reforming international institutions like the IMF.
Brown met Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, who is also vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, on Tuesday.
Since he arrived in the Gulf on Saturday, Brown has met Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah -- who will attend the G20 meeting, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
Lord Peter Mandelson, the British Business Secretary and former EU commissioner who is travelling with Brown, told BBC radio that Gulf states would give money to help out other nations.
"The Gulf is open to business but they're also signing up as keen partners to help the rest of the world to get through the international financial crisis," he said.
"Specifically, it means that they will contribute to the IMF fund... but they will also contibute as partners to the decision-making that we need to make to build up the institutions, the new practices.
Mandelson said Brown was "worth his weight in gold" in negotiations with international partners in securing fresh business worth over 500 million pounds (about 790 million US dollars/620 million euros) during the trip.
Brown, the former British finance minister whose struggling premiership has been boosted by his handling of the financial crisis, also wants China to give extra.
He says he supports an expanded role in the IMF for countries which contribute to an extended fund. Experts say Gulf states perceive the IMF as being dominated by the United States and other leading industrialised nations in the G7. |
