Saudi aid to bailout sought

DOHA, Qatar - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday he thought that oil-rich Gulf states would be willing to help bail out countries stricken by the global credit crisis.

The British leader has said that he wanted "hundreds of billions" of extra dollars pledged to the International Monetary Fund, noting that the Middle East has significant foreign exchange reserves fueled by previous surges in the oil price.

"The Saudis will, I think, contribute like other countries so we can have a bigger fund worldwide," he said after a three-hour meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah late Saturday in Riyadh.

The IMF already has dipped into its $250 billion reserves to provide emergency loans to Iceland, Hungary and Ukraine totaling $30 billion. Pakistan has said it may call on the international body for an additional $5 billion.

The Saudis did not comment publicly on their talks with Brown, but Qatari Prime Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani said his country was keen to work with other nations, noting that Qatar also has been affected by the financial turmoil that has gripped the world in recent months.

"We are sharing the same world and we are sharing the same principles . . . and I think we should look how we can help this economic crisis," he said after meeting with Brown in Doha. "Qatar is not excluded."

Analysts have argued that Gulf states will feel little impetus to bolster the IMF fund, given its domination by the United States and the G7 industrialized nations.

"They need to be involved in serious decision-making regarding the financial and economic health of the global market. It is no longer possible to leave them out," said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a professor of political science at Emirates University in Al Ain. "The tendency has been a dismissive one so far, and that hasn't been wise."

Brown has been eager to win favor with Arab states by stressing that they have not been represented enough on international bodies and promising them a "seat at the table" as world leaders draw up plans for new international financial regulation.

Abdullah is due to attend a meeting of G-20 nations to hammer out potential reform of the global financial system, scheduled for Nov. 15 in Washington.

He said that Saudi Arabia and other energy-rich Gulf nations are likely to want to see a concerted effort by Western leaders to tone down anti-Arab rhetoric in their own countries.

"It's no longer credible to call these guys fanatics and extremists . . . and make them scapegoats," he said.

Gulf nations are also likely to press for a tougher stance against Iran, and a renewed emphasis on ending the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, he said.

Business Secretary Peter Mandelson, who is traveling with Brown and a delegation of more than 20 senior British executives, indicated definite pledges were unlikely before the Washington meeting, noting that the talks are "a process, not an event."

While he is now attempting to woo Gulf leaders to fork out money earned from oil, Brown has drawn ire from some oil-producing states for criticizing a recent decision by OPEC to cut production by 1.5 billion barrels a day to lift prices. Crude has fallen from a high of $147 in July to under $70.

Brown reiterated his calls yesterday for a "stable" crude oil price, citing the need for "a sustainable transition to a more low-carbon-emissions economy for the longer term."