British Prime Minister Gordon Brown set out his plan to reform the international financial system and restore stability to markets around the world in a Financial Times comment piece Friday.
Writing as hundreds of policymakers and business leaders were gathered in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, Brown -- who served as Britain's finance minister for a decade before succeeding Tony Blair in June -- wrote there was now a window of opportunity to implement change.
Brown was himself set to address the Davos event later on Friday morning, and take part in a round-table discussion in the afternoon.
According to him, recent turbulence in the financial markets, which he described as the global economy's "biggest test in more than a decade", has "exposed four big questions and issues for policymakers around the globe."
Those four issues were a transparency deficit throughout the financial system, a lack of cross-border co-operation between national regulators, the role of fiscal policy in supporting monetary policy, and the threat of protectionism.
Brown wrote that countries "now need not only strengthened national regulatory frameworks, but also strengthened international co-operation ... We need a clearer, more authoritative watchdog."
"The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should be at the heart of this reform ... To be effective for a new era, the IMF should act with the same independence as a central bank -- responsible for the surveillance of the world economy, for informing and educating markets, and for enforcing transparency through the system."
He also called for more transparency in financial transactions, a commitment to free trade and open markets, and governments to ensure that fiscal policy played "its rightful role" alongside monetary policy.
The prime minister called on "progressive business and government voices ... (to) come together to agree a manifesto for successful globalisation."
"That manifesto needs to stand behind free trade, open markets, flexible economies and investment in people as the only way forward for rich and poor alike."
He pledged to "redouble" his efforts to help reach a fair world trade deal.
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