Aids and poverty focus for Brown

from the BBC

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to call for a greater international effort to combat Aids and poverty in a speech at the UN.

Mr Brown wants world leaders to live up to their Millennium promises made seven years ago to tackle a range of issues.

He is currently meeting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to discuss issues such as Sudan's Darfur conflict.

On Monday, Mr Brown concluded his first formal talks with President George Bush at Camp David, near Washington.

During the talks, Mr Bush and Mr Brown renewed pledges to fight terrorism and seek progress in Iraq.

Ambitious goals

Mr Ban and Mr Brown are expected to discuss ways of dealing with the situation in the Sudanese region of Darfur where 200,000 people have been killed.

Later on Tuesday, an invited audience will hear the prime minister's address at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Aides said he will focus on trying to find practical ways of meeting the ambitious goals set by world leaders in 2000.

Goals include eradicating extreme poverty, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, cutting child deaths and combating diseases.

'Common struggle'

The speech comes a day after Mr Brown's first official meeting as prime minister with President Bush.

He said both nations had duties and responsibilities in Iraq, and that he would seek military advice before announcing any changes in policy.

The president spoke warmly of the "special relationship" with the UK and said he found Mr Brown a warm, humorous man.

But the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson, at Camp David, said Mr Brown did nothing to return those personal compliments - even referring to their meetings as full and frank, which is normal diplomatic code for an argument.

On the issue of Iraq, Mr Brown said: "Our aim, like the United States is, step-by-step, to move control to the Iraqi authorities."

He also denied suggestions that his view of terrorism differed greatly from that of Mr Bush.

Mr Brown added: "We know we are in a common struggle, we know we have to work together, and we know we have to deal with it."