Brown believes Gulf states will offer IMF cash boost

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday that he believed Gulf states would step in to extend the IMF's capacity to bail out nations hit by worldwide economic chaos.

Brown is on a four-day tour of the oil-rich region to drum up cash for his plan to increase the International Monetary Fund's 250 billion pounds emergency provision by hundreds of billions of dollars.

First stop was Riyadh, where he held several hours of talks with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah late on Saturday, followed by Doha, where he is meeting Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassem and Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

Brown told reporters in Riyadh on Sunday that he thought that both the Saudis and other Gulf states would be willing to help.

"The Saudis will I think contribute like other countries so we can have a bigger fund worldwide," Brown said.

"I think people want to invest both in helping the world get through this very difficult period of time but also I think people want to work with us so we are less dependent on oil and have more stability in oil prices."

The Saudis did not comment publicly, although a senior British government source said they had been wary of becoming a "milch cow" to prop up "basket case" economies elsewhere.

The Qatari premier voiced some enthusiasm for the plan, though, stressing that Qatar would be cooperating with, rather than helping, the international community over the economy.

"Qatar is not excluded or any other country is not excluded from this so we have to work together and instead of using helping, I think we use the word of cooperation," he said at a news conference with Brown after the two met.

Britain's business secretary, Lord Peter Mandelson who is travelling with Brown, said that securing agreement on any deal is "a process not an event." It is not expected that a deal will be agreed in the next few days.

Brown's tour, in which he will reportedly head to Abu Dhabi on Monday, comes ahead of a crunch G20 summit in Washington on November 15 on the IMF's role. Both Brown and the Saudi king will attend the gathering.

As he seeks to persuade Gulf states to buy into the plan, Brown also backed a greater role for them in the IMF, which is set to rescue Hungary, Ukraine and Iceland.

Brown said he supports "reforming the international institutions... to give countries like your own a bigger place in the order."

Saudi Arabia has "a crucial role to play" at the G20 summit, where its voice "must be heard," Brown added.

The British premier, who clashed with the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) over their emergency cut in production last month, also called for more stable oil prices to help steady the world economy.

Saudi Arabia is by far OPEC's biggest oil producer and Qatar is also in the cartel.

The Gulf states have been hit by oil prices dropping below 60 dollars a barrel in recent days from record highs of nearly 150 dollars in July, amid fears of falling demand because of the slowdown.

Qatar's leader said at the news conference that he believed a fair oil price would be between 70 and 90 dollars a barrel, a figure that would allow for investment in the industry as well as considering consumers.

Brown is travelling with former EU trade commissioner Mandelson as well as Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and a delegation of 27 leading figures from British businesses including defence contractor BAE Systems and oil giant BP.

The delegation aims to drum up investment in British business, and Miliband is keen to promote links with Gulf states over green energy technology.

Britain and Qatar announced a 250-million-pound fund for developing low carbon technologies in the two countries on Sunday.

British high street bank Barclays said on Friday it would raise 11.7 billion dollars mostly from investors in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

On his final engagement in Saudi Arabia, Brown met and shook hands with former detainees from the US's Guantanamo Bay detention centre at a deradicalisation centre on the outskirts of Riyadh.