Brown expects Saudi financial help

AP – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, centre, speaks with Saudi students during his visits to King Saud …

DOHA, Qatar – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday he is confident that Saudi Arabia will contribute to the International Monetary Fund's bailout reserves after he promised business leaders in the Gulf that they would have a say in any future new world economic order.

Brown is using a four-day tour of the Gulf to call on oil-rich Middle Eastern countries to be among the biggest donors to the IMF's coffers to rescue failing nations, which at $250 billion have already been depleted by emergency cash calls from Iceland, Hungary and the Ukraine totaling some $30 billion.

"The Saudis will I think contribute so we can have a bigger fund worldwide," he said after a meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah late Saturday and business leaders early Sunday.

The British leader told reporters traveling with him that he wants "hundreds of billions" of extra dollars pledged to the IMF fund, noting that the Middle East and Asia, particularly China, have significant foreign exchange reserves.

But analysts have argued that Gulf states will feel little impetus to bolster the IMF fund, given its domination by the United States and the G7 industrialized nations.

A senior British government source, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment, said that during talks the Saudis had been concerned about becoming a "milk cow" to prop up "basket case" economies in other parts of the world.

Kuwait's finance minister, Mostafa al-Shimali, told Al-Anbaa daily in comments published Sunday that Kuwait was prepared to listen to what Brown had to offer.

"The matter of supporting world markets depends on investment opportunities on offer and their possible returns," he said.

Brown has attempted to win favor with Arab states by stressing they have not been represented enough on international bodies and promising them a seat at the table amid discussions by world leaders "grasping toward new world order."

"I believe that your country has a crucial role to play and your voice must be heard," Brown told business leaders in Saudi Arabia.

After a marathon three-hour one-on-one session with Saudi Arabia's Abdullah at the Riyadh Royal Palace, Brown moved quickly on to Doha, where he is due to meet Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim, before attending a dinner with the ruler, Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, later Sunday.

Any funds from Gulf states are unlikely to be pledged before a meeting of G-20 nations to hammer out potential reform of the global financial system to prevent a repeat of the current crisis, scheduled for November 15 in Washington D.C., which will also be attended by King Abdullah.

Business Secretary Peter Mandelson, who is traveling with Brown and a delegation of more than 20 senior British executives, indicated definite pledges were unlikely in the next few days.

"They are getting each other on to the same page of analysis and the agreed response and Saudi Arabia's active participation in getting the world through this first financial crisis of the global age," Mandelson told reporters after Brown met with Abdullah. "But that is a process, not an event."

While he is now attempting to woo Gulf leaders to fork out money earned from soaring oil prices, Brown has drawn ire from some oil producing states for criticizing a recent decision by OPEC to cut production by 1.5 billion barrels a day to lift prices. Crude has fallen from a high of $147 in July to under $70 currently.

He repeated his calls for a "stable" crude oil price on Sunday, citing the need for "a sustainable transition to a more low carbon emissions economy for the longer-term."

Britain has planned an oil summit in London in early December to follow up the talks between oil producers and consumers led by Abdullah in Jeddah in July when the oil price was at a record $147.

The London gathering was initially to be held at heads of state level, but amid controversy over whom had — or had not — been invited from the oil producing states, Downing St. said it would be held at ministerial level.