BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday that he expects oil-rich Gulf states to pledge money to the International Monetary Fund when world leaders meet in Washington next week.
Winding up a four-day tour of the Gulf, taking in Qatar and Saudi Arabia as well as the United Arab Emirates, Brown said his talks with leaders in the region to persuade them to beef up the coffers of the IMF had been successful.
"When we come to Washington a few days from now, I believe we will see countries coming together to make their statements about what they contribute," he told reporters after holding talks with Dubai ruler and Emirati Prime Minister Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in the Emirates' capital Abu Dhabi.
The British premier, who has taken a leading role in international attempts to reform the global financial system in the wake of the financial crisis, met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani and held marathon 3-hour talks with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah.
"What we need to show is that we have got the strength to withstand any future problems in different countries," he said ahead of the meeting of G-20 nations in Washington on November 15 to hammer out a potential new world economic order.
Brown has said that he wants "hundreds of billions" of extra dollars pledged to the existing US$250-billion IMF fund to stop the spread of the global financial crisis. The body's reserves have been depleted by cash calls from Iceland, Hungary and the Ukraine.