PM hails Anglo-Indian partnership

Mr Brown used the trip to give strong public backing to India's claim to a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, as well as improved representation in "radically reformed" international institutions.

He hailed Britain's relationship with its former colony as a "strategic partnership of equals" which will bring benefits to both sides as India's economy expands.

Accompanied by a high-powered delegation of British business leaders including Virgin's Sir Richard Branson, the PM said that talks over the past two days could lead to commercial deals worth £10 billion being signed in the coming months.

Mr Brown's first visit to India as Prime Minister followed immediately on from a two-day stay in Asia's other emerging economic giant, China. The long-planned trip has been overshadowed by the Northern Rock crisis, with some critics claiming the offer of Government-backed bonds to smooth the path of a private sale amounted to a "sweetheart deal" with Sir Richard.

But aides focused on Mr Brown's call for reform of international institutions such as the Security Council, World Bank, IMF and G8, which they said constituted a "significant" statement of his views on a new world order. They said the PM wants not only India, but also Brazil, Japan, Germany and an African country to join World War II victors Britain, the US, Russia, France and China as permanent Security Council members.

Speaking to business leaders in the Indian capital New Delhi, Mr Brown said: "To succeed now, the post-war rules of the game and the post-war international institutions must be radically reformed to fit our world of globalisation.

"We can and must do more to make our global institutions more representative and I support India's bid for a permanent place, with others, on an expanded UN Security Council. And I support changes to the IMF, World Bank and the G8 that reflect the rise of India and Asia."

Mr Brown said he wants to see the World Bank focus more on poverty reduction and environmentally-sustainable development, while the IMF should become an "early-warning system" for financial shocks such as the credit crunch which destabilised Northern Rock.

He also called for a powerful new UN envoy backed by a multinational rapid reaction force to co-ordinate peace-keeping and post-conflict recovery in struggling states, along with a new UN budget for crisis prevention and recovery. And he called for strengthened networks of global law enforcement authorities, intelligence and financial regulators to combat the threat of terrorism.