British PM, EU president discuss strategy for growth

LONDON, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with new European Union President Herman van Rompuy at the Downing Street No. 10 on Tuesday to discuss the priorities for Europe including action on the economy, climate change and security.

Brown said the British government has published a compact designed to "reinvigorate" EU economies and build "strong, sustainable and balanced" growth.

On the economy, Brown said EU countries must agree on coordinated measures that will build a strong recovery.

He said: "President van Rompuy and I agreed that at this critical point in Europe's history, we must now more than ever, raise our level of ambition for Europe's future growth and employment."

The EU, despite the challenge of Asia and the rest of the world, remains the world's largest trading block, he said. "We are the biggest export market in the world, we are the largest internal market in the world and we have to forge a new economic strategy for our future following the economic crisis."

Brown said measures to improve growth and job prospects include investment in the low-carbon economy, open markets, the completion of the single market, and more flexible labor markets.

Van Rompuy said he has called an informal meeting of the European Council in February to look at formulating a new economic strategy for the region.

They also discussed the situation in Haiti following last week' s devastating earthquake. Van Rompuy said the EU has responded swiftly to the situation, with EU members already pledging 400 million euros (about 560 million U.S. dollars), including 30 million euros (42 million dollars) from Britain.

The EU is committed to helping Haiti with longer term reconstruction, Van Rompuy said.