Brown sets out post-Bush UK foreign policy vision

By Sumeet Desai

BOSTON (Reuters) - The United States should take the lead in driving closer global cooperation, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday in a speech that looked beyond the George W. Bush presidency.

On the last leg of his three-day U.S. tour, overshadowed at home by economic woes that voters increasingly believe Brown cannot tackle, the prime minister set out a vision of foreign policy that embraced closer ties between Europe and America and also the emerging economies.

"Now is an opportunity for a historic effort in cooperation, a new dawn in collaborative action between America and Europe," he said in a speech in Boston.

Of efforts to forge better ties, Brown said, "America's leadership is, and will be, indispensable."

The speech seemed to look toward the new White House administration that will be ushered in when the Republican president leaves office in January 2009.

That new focus was evident when Brown met the three main candidates for the November presidential election -- Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain -- before Bush in Washington on Thursday.

Brown said he wants to see reform of the international institutions to reflect the new world order. His argument is that global problems need global solutions as shown by the credit crunch that has seized financial markets.

"I also sense this is also the moment to bring in China, India, South Africa, Brazil and other emerging countries to the heart of the debate," he added.