British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the whole world had to preserve "an open economy," rather than move towards protectionism at the monthly press conference held on Wednesday.

He called for a global deal on the world economy, with all countries and continents taking coordinated action to tackle the worldwide recession and the credit crunch.

"We've got to persuade the rest of Europe, America and the rest of the world to take similar action to us," said Brown. "If we can get the action in place, then recovery will be quicker."

He emphasized it was essential that countries worked together because the problems they were facing were global.

He said: "Every part of the world must be part of the stimulus to the economy, giving support into the economy with investment, getting interest rates down as much as possible, and I believe one of the features of our discussions at the G20 summit on April 2 is how all countries can come together to do that."

He added: "I think we are fashioning for the future a global deal and grand bargain where each continent fulfills its responsibilities and its obligations and act to deal with what is a global problem."

The British government on Wednesday launched a document entitled "The plan for recovery" outlining its policies and aims in the run-up of the G20 economic summit to be held in London in April. US President Barack Obama and leaders from developed and developing countries such as China and India will get together to discuss how to tackle the global economic downturn.

The document said that at the summit, countries need to come together to enhance global coordination in order to help restore global economic growth. World leaders must take three commitments: First, to take whatever action is necessary to stabilize financial markets and enable families and businesses to get through the recession; Second, to reform and strengthen the global financial and economic system to restore confidence and trust; Third, to put the global economy on track for sustainable growth.

Brown will meet leaders including German chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during the next few days.

(Xinhua News Agency February 19, 2009)