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Brown urges UK to be optimistic PM says 'no clear map' for crisis
(about 13 hours later)
Britons must remain optimistic in the face of the global recession, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said. Gordon Brown says there is no precedent for the "first financial crisis of the global age".
In an interview while at the World Economic Forum in Davos Mr Brown urged against "talking the country down". History offered "no clear map" of how to deal with it, the UK prime minister told an audience at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.
The prime minister also said he was "absolutely confident" that Britain would come through the economic crisis. Mr Brown warned about the rising threat of protectionism and said that global co-operation was the only way forward.
But he warned that if world leaders failed to agree international finance reforms at the G20 summit in London in April there could be dire consequences. "This is not like the 1930s. The world can come together," the prime minister said.
'Determined and resolute' In the interview Mr Brown said: "This is the first financial crisis of the global age. And there is no clear map that has been set out from past experience to deal with it.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph newspaper during his stay in Switzerland Mr Brown said: "I am absolutely confident about Britain's future. I have utter confidence in our ability to come through this. "I'm reminded of the story of Titian, who's the great painter, who reached the age of 90, finished the last of his nearly 100 brilliant paintings, and he said at the end of it, 'I'm finally beginning to learn how to paint', and that is where we are.
"The British spirit is to see a problem, identify it, and get on with solving it. Once a problem hits us we are determined and resolute and we are adamant that we are going to deal with that problem." "We're learning all the time about how to deal with what are real problems for which we have no historical analogies to fall back on, because when the 1930s problems hit them, they did not have the global financial markets that we have today."
But the prime minister also warned of the dangers of creeping protectionism and noted similarities between the up-coming G20 meeting in London and a summit of world leaders in the city during the Great Depression. This is a global banking crisis and you've got to deal with it for what it is, a global banking crisis Gordon Brown class="" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/stephanieflanders/2009/01/the_pressure_for_protectionism.html">Read Stephanie Flanders' blog
The thing we know about protectionism is that it protects nobody and least of all the poor Gordon Brown class="" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/stephanieflanders/2009/01/the_pressure_for_protectionism.html">Read Stephanie Flanders' blog He said a "laissez faire" attitude was not permissible and added that "there is implicit protectionism I'm afraid in what is happening at the moment".
Mr Brown said: "People came to London in an attempt to get agreement, partly on trade, partly on other aspects of the economy. It failed. He called for co-operation and the rebuilding of "out-of-date" institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
"And it was partly as a result of that failure that the rest of the 30s was blighted by protectionism. "This is a global banking crisis and you've got to deal with it for what it is, a global banking crisis," he said.
"The thing we know about protectionism is that it protects nobody and least of all the poor," he said. Global regulation
He called for "clear reforms" of the financial system to be agreed at the G20 meeting to rebuild trust in banks. He said the solution did not lie in just nationalising banks and there was a need for a "global regulatory system" to ensure that such a crisis could be prevented in the future.
But the BBC's Economics Editor Stephanie Flanders said there was some scepticism about whether the G20 would be able to act collectively even in the face of such a crisis. He also said there were far too many nations fearing an Asian crisis and holding on to far too many economic reserves.
Figures published in recent days suggest the global economy will barely grow at all this year and that the world is in its worst economic slump since 1945. Discussing the fall in the value of sterling, he said he still believed the UK's economy was built on "sound fundamentals".
Two weeks ago billionaire investor Jim Rogers urged others to take their money out of the British economy.
Mr Brown dismissed the calls and told the Davos audience: "It think it is very clear that we are not going to build policies around self-interested speculators."
He said the UK was making the decisions it needed to on issues such as planning, science, the environment and investing in skills.
He said: "I believe we are making the right decisions for the future."
Focusing on the G20's second meeting on 2 April in London, he said the discussions would focus on global "interdependent" issues.
The UK will chair the financial summit and Mr Brown said nations that were not members would still be consulted beforehand and their concerns would contribute to the dialogue.
BBC News diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall said Mr Brown made the point that the world had entered "unchartered waters".
She said: "What it comes down to is restoring confidence and trust."