US must lead on downturn - Brown

Mr Brown visited a gas plant in Qatar as part of his trip

Gordon Brown has urged the next US president to show leadership over global financial reforms and reject a retreat into protectionism.

The prime minister said in Abu Dhabi that the US role in co-operation over financial reforms had been vital.

He said the next stage would need even more international cooperation with US leadership "crucial to its success".

He also backed a bigger role for Gulf states in running the International Monetary Fund, if they contribute more.

US voters will decide on Tuesday whether Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama is to become the next president.

'Common agenda'

In a speech at an international oil conference, Mr Brown said the world would want to work closely with the US in the coming months.

There would be a "common agenda to bring growth and jobs back to our economies, to give greater stability to our financial system, to defeat protectionism in favour of free trade and of course to work for a more secure world - and in the Middle East, peace".

No country, no matter how big, can solve these challenges alone Gordon Brown

He said US co-operation on co-ordinated interest rate cuts and co-operation had been "vital".

But he said: "The next stage of globalisations will require even more international co-operation with American leadership crucial to its success."

He added: "No country, no matter how big, can solve these challenges alone."

IMF role

Mr Brown's trip to the Gulf is the seventh time he has ventured overseas in the last eight weeks.

He has held several meetings with other leaders aimed at lessening the impact of the global economic downturn.

On Monday he also said for the first time that the Gulf states should have a bigger role in the IMF, in return for contributing to a bail-out fund for collapsing economies.

"I very much accept the argument that countries which do contribute in this way should have a greater say in the overall governance of the IMF, and this is part of our ambitions for reform," he said.

His spokesman said IMF reserves needed to be boosted by "several hundreds of billions of dollars".

Earlier, the prime minister visited a natural gas plant in Qatar and an allied air base where some 450 RAF servicemen fly operations to Iraq.

On Sunday, he met suspected members of al-Qaeda during a visit to a "de-radicalisation centre" in Saudi Arabia.