Brown wants to rewrite the rules of capitalism

London, Oct 16 : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for the most ambitious reform of the world economic order since the Second World War in order to prevent a repeat of the current global financial crisis.

Brown wants dozens of world leaders to meet for a major one-off summit where they would rewrite the rules of international capitalism that have stood since 1944.

The foundations of the current world financial and economic system were laid at Bretton Woods in New Hampshire in 1944.

Led by Franklin D Roosevelt, Western leaders created the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and laid down common standards for open markets around the world.

Calling for "very large and very radical changes," The Telegraph quoted Brown as saying that he was seeking nothing less than "a new Bretton Woods."

Speaking at a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels, Brown said the recent crisis proves the need for much more international co-operation on the regulation of banks and other financial institutions.

"We now have global financial markets, global corporations, and global financial flows. But what we do not have is anything other than national and regional regulation and supervision," he said.

The Prime Minister has won considerable international kudos for his 37 billion pound recapitalistion of Britain's banks, a measure that has been followed by both US and European leaders.

He now wants to use that political capital to create a new system of international financial regulation, led by a reformed and enlarged IMF. "We need a global way of supervising our financial system."

ANI