By KUNA,
Manchester : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has stressed the importance of working together with the Arab world to overcome the great challenges of terrorism, the global economy and security issues.
Brown made the remarks at a dinner hosted by the Arab ambassadors late last night on the fringe of the annual Labour party conference, in Manchester, northern England.
The prime minister was endorsing the comments made by Kuwaits ambassador to the UK Khaled Al-Duwaisan, who is also the dean of the foreign diplomatic corps.
Al-Duwaisan paid tribute in his address to the historic and friendly ties between Britain and the Arab world and the need for them to stand up jointly to the new challenges facing the world.
The event was also attended by the prime minister’s wife Sarah, leading members of the Arab community, Foreign Secretary David Miliband and some other ministers and senior Labour MPs.
Brown, speaking only a few hours after his keynote address to the Manchester conference, highlighted the need to tackle the financial and economic crisis facing the world.
He recalled that this is probably the first financial crisis after globalisation and this followed ten years of economic prosperity, low interest rates and lower prices for consumers.
Referring to the rise in the price of oil and the fluctuation in the energy market, the British leader said that there is a growing demand in many countries, particularly in Asia, for oil and its resources.
“These problems can only be solved if we work together to beat them.” Turning to Arab-British relations, Brown warmly praised these ties, while emphasizing that he wanted the strongest possible links with the Arab states.
Meanwhile, he referred to the need for cooperation between consumers and producers of energy, “as there should be no divergence of interest, but both sides should work together for the sake of stabilising the energy markets.” On the forthcoming conference he is hosting in London in December as a follow up to the Jeddah energy summit earlier this year, the prime minister said that he wanted to achieve the best results from these deliberations, with a view to ensuring energy security and the stability of the market.
He also spoke about the need to develop alternative sources of energy and the use of modern technology that could help in that respect.
On the peace process in the Middle East, Brown agreed with the Kuwaiti ambassador that this problem has overshadowed and dominated all other issues in the past decades.
He called on both the Palestinians and the Israelis to seize the current opportunity to secure a just and comprehensive settlement to their dispute, including the difficult final status issues such as the borders, the status of Jerusalem and refugees.
In addition, the British leader reiterated the importance of the creation of an independent viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.
“There is much poverty and unemployment in the Palestinian areas and we want to see small businesses develop and the establishment of new projects and industrial complexes, that would lead to prosperity in the West Bank and Gaza, ” the prime minister said.