JohnCenaFan28
03-02-2009, 09:32 PM
Prime Minister Gordon Brown was flying to America for a meeting with Barack Obama at which he hopes to secure the US President's agreement on international action to tackle the global economic downturn.
Mr Brown was the first European leader to be invited to the White House following Mr Obama's inauguration and he sees Tuesday's meeting as a vital springboard for the all-important G20 summit of the world's major economies in London in April.
After a week of wooing his European counterparts, Mr Brown hopes he can persuade President Obama to join in a united front at the G20 in favour of concerted action to stimulate the global economy, oppose protectionism, revive lending and create "green" jobs.
And the two leaders will also discuss the situation in Afghanistan, where Mr Obama is planning to send 17,000 extra US troops and has appealed for more help from Nato allies. It is thought unlikely that Mr Brown will announce any increase in Britain's 8,300-strong contingent.
The need to avoid protectionism is expected to be the major theme of Mr Brown's speech on Wednesday to both houses of Congress, many of whose members want Mr Obama to defend US businesses by erecting barriers to foreign imports.
Mr Brown is only the fifth UK prime minister to be granted the honour of an address to Congress, and he will be watched by his wife Sarah, will also meet the president's wife Michelle Obama in a "spouse's summit".
However, it is not thought the two wives will join their husbands for their working lunch at the White House on Tuesday.
Mr Brown will present Mr Obama with the gift of an original commissioning document from the 19th century exploration vessel HMS Resolute, from whose timbers the Oval Office desk - a present from Queen Victoria - was constructed.
The President will also receive a desk ornament made from timber from Resolute's sister-ship HMS Gannet and a first edition of Martin Gilbert's seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill.
Soon after becoming President, Mr Obama ordered the removal of a bust of Churchill - presented to his predecessor George Bush by Tony Blair - from the Oval Office, replacing it with a bust of his hero Abraham Lincoln. There was speculation that the decision reflected Mr Obama's unease with a reminder of the man who ordered the crackdown on Mau-Mau rebels in 1950s Kenya, during which his grandfather was detained and reportedly tortured, though the White House insisted it was no more than spring-cleaning after the change of administration.
-Nova
Mr Brown was the first European leader to be invited to the White House following Mr Obama's inauguration and he sees Tuesday's meeting as a vital springboard for the all-important G20 summit of the world's major economies in London in April.
After a week of wooing his European counterparts, Mr Brown hopes he can persuade President Obama to join in a united front at the G20 in favour of concerted action to stimulate the global economy, oppose protectionism, revive lending and create "green" jobs.
And the two leaders will also discuss the situation in Afghanistan, where Mr Obama is planning to send 17,000 extra US troops and has appealed for more help from Nato allies. It is thought unlikely that Mr Brown will announce any increase in Britain's 8,300-strong contingent.
The need to avoid protectionism is expected to be the major theme of Mr Brown's speech on Wednesday to both houses of Congress, many of whose members want Mr Obama to defend US businesses by erecting barriers to foreign imports.
Mr Brown is only the fifth UK prime minister to be granted the honour of an address to Congress, and he will be watched by his wife Sarah, will also meet the president's wife Michelle Obama in a "spouse's summit".
However, it is not thought the two wives will join their husbands for their working lunch at the White House on Tuesday.
Mr Brown will present Mr Obama with the gift of an original commissioning document from the 19th century exploration vessel HMS Resolute, from whose timbers the Oval Office desk - a present from Queen Victoria - was constructed.
The President will also receive a desk ornament made from timber from Resolute's sister-ship HMS Gannet and a first edition of Martin Gilbert's seven-volume biography of Winston Churchill.
Soon after becoming President, Mr Obama ordered the removal of a bust of Churchill - presented to his predecessor George Bush by Tony Blair - from the Oval Office, replacing it with a bust of his hero Abraham Lincoln. There was speculation that the decision reflected Mr Obama's unease with a reminder of the man who ordered the crackdown on Mau-Mau rebels in 1950s Kenya, during which his grandfather was detained and reportedly tortured, though the White House insisted it was no more than spring-cleaning after the change of administration.
-Nova