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Brown backs Sarkozy plan for expanding G8
London (AFP) Jan 8, 2008 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Tuesday backed a plan by French President Nicholas Sarkozy to expand the Group of Eight industrialised powers, allowing in five of the emerging economic powerhouses. "The G8+5 meets on a regular basis but only for a small amount of the time that the G8 comes together. Now there are proposals to extend that relationship and to broaden it so that India, China, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil are part of these discussions and that's something we favour also," Brown said at his monthly press conference. The idea of allowing the five emerging economies to join the G8 group was first put forward by Sarkozy in August. At his own press conference in Paris on Tuesday, the French president said he was confident that the plan would "appeal to common sense, and find allies." "I have written to all the members of the G8 about the proposal, and spoken with both the US president and Japanese president," Sarkozy added. He also indicated that he would be arguing for Germany, Japan, Brazil, India and a country from Africa to become permanent members of the United Nations Security Council as part of a shake-up of UN. Quizzed by reporters on the subject at his press conference, Brown also gave the idea cautious backing. "Yes, we would extend the Security Council, but of course the challenge is reaching an agreement from all the parties on that and maybe there's gonna be an interim settlement on the road to further reform," he said. "The world's institutions are right for major reforms," Brown said, noting that the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations date from the 1940s and are in need of updating reforms. He added that "the reform of the Security Counicl and the G8 is very much part of that." Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Analysis: China's ability to sustain war Hong Kong (UPI) Jan 4, 2008 Should a conflict break out across the Taiwan Strait, Taiwanese forces would face a grave shortage of ammunition after just seven days of fighting. Even though China has a much greater stockpile of ammunition than Taiwan, it would also encounter similar problems in a sustained conflict. |
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