Brown: World willing to come together

WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- The world has never been so united than now in addressing the global economic crisis, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the U.S. Congress Wednesday.

"I say we should seize this moment because never before have I seen a world willing to come together so much, never before has that been more needed, and never before have the benefits of cooperation been so far reaching," Brown said Wednesday during a joint session.

Brown said if all countries' actions to end the worldwide economic crisis were combined, the impact would be multiplied and "could mean a whole (that is) much greater than the sum of its parts."

He proposed rules and standards to be considered during next month's meeting in London of the Group of 20 of industrialized and developing nations.

The standards would help ensure "that the whole of our worldwide banking system serves our prosperity rather than risks ... and will mean an end to the excesses and will apply to every bank everywhere all the time," Brown said.

The United States and a few other nations can't be expected to bear the entire burden of a global fiscal and interest rate stimulus, he said.

"We must share it globally," he said. "So let us work together for the worldwide reduction of interest rates and a scale of stimulus that is equal to the debt of the recession."

He also proposed renewing international economic cooperation to help emerging markets rebuild.

"Let us sign a world trade agreement to expand commerce," Brown said. "Let us work together, also, for a low-carbon recovery."

Brown expressed confidence that U.S. President Barack Obama, Congress and "the peoples of the world can come together in Copenhagen in December and reach a historic agreement to combat climate change."