Brown begins US visit with Wall St focus
Gordon Brown is set to push US financiers for quicker release of their results as he begins a three-day visit to the US.
The prime minister has arrived in New York City ahead of high-level talks on Zimbabwe and bilateral relations between Britain and the US.
And following his meeting with senior British banking figures, in which the prime minister discussed ways in which the impact of the credit crunch can be reduced, he will meet with Wall Street bosses to consider methods to boost confidence in the housing market.
The prime minister will also meet with president George Bush and Federal Reserve head Ben Bernanke to discuss global financial problems and is expected to push for banking institutions to reveal their losses quickly so that lending can be resumed soon after and customers’ borrowing costs reduced.
Mr Brown’s three-day visit will begin with a breakfast meeting at the United Nations (UN) with secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, before a meeting with the UN security council.
There he will address post-conflict reconstruction in Africa and ongoing problems in Zimbabwe and Darfur before meeting with presidential hopefuls Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal newspaper, the prime minister explained a desire to develop the so-called ‘special relationship’ between Britain and the US by expanding the level of exchange programmes among educational institutions.
“America and Britain are separated by the thousands of miles of the Atlantic and by our differing and always evolving national cultures,” he said.
“Yet there is still far more that unites us than can ever divide us.
“I believe that the future of our relationship can, if we choose, deliver far more even than it has achieved in its past. Not just for both our nations, but for the world too.”
Mr Brown’s trip comes as Pope Benedict XVI makes his first visit to the US.
