The Prime Minister has taken part in live interviews with The Wall Street Journal and New York University today, answering questions on a range of issues.

In the first of two interviews in New York, Gordon Brown responded to questions from the Journal s managing editor, Robert Thomson on deflation, reserve currencies and the G20 agenda.

He also took questions from the floor, including from Henry Kissinger on the challenges of achieving the “highly desirable objectives” of the G20 agenda, in a summit that will last just one day.

The summit will go “part of the way” in the process the PM said, which “must end with the reform of the global institutions.” The PM argued that institutions like the IMF and World Bank, created in the post-war era, must change to address the challenges facing the global economy.

Mr Brown also emphasised that it was important for governments to play a part in challenging pessimism and to persuade people to view the global economy and society, in the same way that we “communicate across frontiers”, travel the world and buy goods from every country.

He spoke of the determination of G20 leaders to do whatever it takes to restore the world economy to growth, and that collectively “we are building not just a global economy, but a truly global society”.

Later in the day, Mr Brown took questions from staff and students at NYU as part of a panel that also included former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former Chair of the Federal Reserve Paul Volcker.

They gave their views on a range of topics, including the economy, international trade, the role of the media in communicating global ideas, and the current conflict in Sudan.

Discussing next week’s G20, the PM said:

“I believe that the world must come together to deal with problems that we know exist but problems that I believe are soluble.”

He also told the audience that the American people should be confident about the contribution their nation is making on the world stage.

Follow the PM s travels on our Google map, on Twitter or on Flickr.

Visit the London Summit Website

http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18741