November 12, 2008	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 13, 1429

LONDON, Nov 11: Prime Minister Gordon Brown has once again stressed that there had to be “burden-sharing” with other coalition partners in Afghanistan as he answered questions at his regular monthly press conference on Tuesday about whether Britain would agree to any US requests to raise the number of troops.

He also made an earnest call for a successful conclusion to the stalled Doha round of world trade talks and warned against a protectionist response to the economic downturn.

Mr Brown said that only “small differences” were preventing a deal from going through. The current economic climate demanded coordinated global action rather than countries acting in isolation, he said.

“I think there is some momentum for a world trade deal,” he said. “I believe there is a sense ... that we need to act to avoid a retreat into protectionism and I think President Obama will share that position.”

Mr Brown will travel to the US on Friday for the G20 financial summit in Washington. Leaders from the Group of Eight industrialised nations and premiers from other countries such as China will convene on Saturday to discuss the global economic crisis.

He insisted that coordinated “global action” was needed to combat economic problems, rather than countries acting alone.

He emphasised that any action in Britain to increase borrowing in order to cut taxes and stimulate the economy needed to be matched with similar moves by other countries if the world was to pull out of the downturn.

At home, the PM pledged to continue working with banks to ease the flow of credit to families and businesses. Principles will be set out shortly on matters such as bank lending to small businesses and the conduct of credit card companies in recouping debts, he said.

He disagreed with David Cameron, the Tory leader, over tax policy as he insisted Britain was well placed to weather the financial storm.

The prime minister dismissed a Tory proposal to offer companies a £2,500 incentive to create new jobs as an “unfunded tax cut” as he called for “serious policies for serious times”.