Ayoub mzee with the Burundi vice president
The journey towards the London Summit on 2 April is now entering the home straight following the meeting of the leaders of the 27 member states of the European Union on 19 and 20 March.
In a speech in Saõ Paulo during the last leg of his pre-G20 tour, Gordon Brown has said Brazil and its neighbours have 'a crucial role to play' is tackling the global crisis. In a webchat, Lord Malloch-Brown, UK Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, has said he hopes the London Summit will be the place where the world’s leaders demonstrated confidence in the future and restored confidence to everyone else.
Final Major Gathering: European Union
At the European Union meeting, which was effectively the final major gathering of political leaders before the Summit itself, a number of measures were agreed to help solve the global economic crisis. The package included plans to strengthen financial regulation, restore economic growth and functioning credit markets and provide an extra €75bn to the International Monetary Fund and €25bn for fragile non-eurozone countries. The meeting picked up the baton from the meeting of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bankers in Horsham, southern England, on 13 and 14 March, which resulted in a detailed communiqu‚ and a separate agreement on action to restore global growth and restore lending by the world’s banks.
Brown speaks to African Leaders
In between those two major meetings were a series of events that drew in voices from countries in all four corners of the globe. On Monday 16 March Gordon Brown held talks with a group of African leaders to ensure the needs of poorer countries were tackled as part of the summit of the leaders of the G20 group of emerging and developing economies.
Video: Africa Leaders
Representatives of several states, including Liberia, Ethiopia and South Africa, attended the meeting in central London. Several took the time to speak to the London Summit website about their concerns. Mansur Muhtar, the Nigerian finance minister, said action on preserving world trade was 'critical'. 'The risks this global crisis poses to many countries means there's growing political pressure to revert to protectionism,' he said. 'In this context we must do everything possible to ensure that we have agreements in place to help boost world trade.' Youssef Boutros Ghali, the Egyptian Finance Minister, said that Gordon Brown was the best-placed of all global leaders to lead the reform of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. 'If anyone can chart a course towards reforming the IMF, it is him,' he said.
