<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Hong Kong Standard Front Page</TITLE></HEAD> <center> <TABLE WIDTH=580 ALIGN=CENTER BORDER=0> <TR> <TD> <IMG SRC="/logoicon/frobannr.gif" BORDER=1> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </CENTER> <HR> <H2> Heavyweights urge action on crisis control</H2>  <IMG SRC="fina001.jpg"> <BR> <FONT SIZE=-1> <B> Gentle prod: US Vice-President Al Gore urges Tokyo to speed up its reforms. He says Europe's new financial muscle must also be harnessed to the full. Picture: Reuters </B> </FONT> <P> <BODY>FINANCIAL leaders of the major industrial powers urged swift action to reform the global financial system to cope with any crises, saying the time for analysis was over. <P> British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown called for a ``decision by the summer'' on a new system for ``crisis prevention and resolution'' which should be in place this year, at the World Economic Forum annual economic gathering in Davos, Switzerland. <P> ``We should recognise that we have a global . . . financial system,'' Mr Brown said, and acknowledged the need for a new global standing committee for regular and consistent surveillance. <P> ``I believe we should have this in place before the summer,'' he said. He said the system would have to involve governments, the international community, the private sector and the International Monetary Fund sharing responsibility for keeping the financial system in order. <P> Meanwhile, United States Vice-President Al Gore called on Japan and Europe to do their part as he urged Tokyo to press ahead with reforms needed to help solve the global economic crisis. <P> Europe's new financial muscle, he said, must also be harnessed to the full. <P> Mr Gore said President Bill Clinton would propose ``significant'' new funding for highly-indebted countries in his budget plans next week. <P> Mr Gore said poor nations must not be forgotten as world leaders discuss how to reform the world's global financial architecture following the recent economic crises. <P> ``We must never lose sight of the poorest nations,'' he said, adding that ``I hope this can be the year when international financial institutions are able to fully do their part _ including carrying through on a long-discussed proposal, the mobilisation of a small portion of the IMF's gold reserves''. <P> Japanese Vice-Minister of Finance for International Affairs Eisuke Sakakibara also said it was ``important to proceed speedily on the issue of a new international financial architecture''. <P> But he warned that ``the basic cause of the crisis has not been eliminated'', and said moves must be made to monitor and possibly the ``prudential regulation'' of the huge amounts of capital moving round the world, how to handle exchange rates and the possible creation of a ``lender of last resort'' if globalisation was to work. <P> French Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn said he expected a meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers in Germany on 20 February to take some decisions on this issue as far as the G7 countries, the world's major industrial powers, are concerned. - Agencies <P> <TABLE BORDER=2 CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=1 ALIGN=CENTER> <TR> <TD> <A HREF="frontpg.htm#1"><B>Front Page</B></A> </TD> </TR> </TABLE><P><TABLE WIDTH=580 BORDER=2 CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=1 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD ALIGN=CENTER><A HREF="/online/finance/001/china/china.htm">China</A></TD><TD ALIGN=CENTER><A HREF="/online/finance/001/hongkong/hongkong.htm">Local</A></TD><TD ALIGN=CENTER><A HREF="/online/finance/001/features/features.htm">International</A></TD><TD ALIGN=CENTER><A HREF="/online/finance/001/stock/stox_cat.htm">HK Stocks</A></TD></TR><TR><TD ALIGN=CENTER><A HREF="/online/finance/001/currency/currency.html">Exchange Rate</A></TD><TD ALIGN=CENTER><A HREF="/online/finance/001/mfunds/main.htm">Mutual Funds</A></TD><A HREF="/clips/finance/300199/hongkong/fina009.htm">Get moving is Gore message</A> <BR> <A HREF="/clips/finance/300199/hongkong/fina010.htm">Tung says devaluation of yuan makes no sense</A> <BR> <A HREF="/clips/finance/300199/hongkong/fina011.htm">Sakakibara upbeat on recovery by mid-year</A> <BR> <A HREF="/clips/finance/300199/hongkong/fina012.htm">Brazil urged to follow lead of Argentina</A> <BR> <BR> <TD ALIGN=CENTER><A HREF="/online/finance/001/hksfin.htm">Business</A></TD><TD ALIGN=CENTER><A HREF="/online/news/001/hksnews.htm">News</A></TD></TR></TABLE><P> </BODY> </HTML>