Prime Minister Gordon Brown undertook a whirlwind pre-G20 tour from 24th to 29th March which took him to Strasbourg, New York, Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Santiago.

In New York, Gordon Brown met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and in the press conference afterwards both of them said they were committed to helping the world’s poorest nations at the G20. Ban Ki-Moon wrote a letter to all the leaders of the G20 in which he asks them to commit to a large fiscal stimulus for developing countries. He said:

‘G20 countries should commit to sustaining an international stimulus package on top of their national stimulus packages. It needs to be of a very substantial size.’

In the third leg of his trip, the Prime Minister held talks with the Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as well as leading business figures. On Friday, Mr Brown and President Lula agreed to call for countries breaking free-trade agreements to be named, and for the G20 to provide $100 billion in trade credit.

In the final leg of the tour, Gordon Brown met President Michelle Bachelet of Chile and discussed the key issues covered by the London Summit, including avoiding protectionism during this financial crisis. Whilst in Chile, Prime Minister attended the Progressive Governance Conference, which was also attended by Presidents Bachelet and Lula, Argentina’s President Cristina Kirchner, and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. For more information on this conference, see here.

-Jessica Gomez-Duran