Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday used a meeting in the heart of America’s financial district, Wall Street, to highlight growing international agreement on the policies needed to restore economic growth and repair the financial markets.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal on 25 March Mr Brown said there was 'far more agreement' that was often portrayed in the media.

'Clearly we have got to deal with gaps in supervision that have existed over many years and we have got find a way without a single regulator of getting the coordination of the supervisory system right,' he said.

'I don't think there's a lack of consensus over what needs to be done because we are dealing with global problems that require global solutions. I think you will see in the communiqué a determination to do what is necessary and monitor what is happening so that the results are analysed properly.'

His focus on key policies ahead of the summit was echoed by comments by US President Barack Obama in a press conference the previous night.

Mr Obama said: 'Let's do what's necessary in order to create jobs and to get the economy moving again. Let's avoid steps that could result in protectionism that would further contract global trade. Let's focus on how are we going to move our regulatory process forward in order so that we do not see the kinds of systemic breakdowns that we've already seen.'

'And that means not just dealing with banks, but also some of the other financial flows that are out here that are urrently unregulated. We've got to update regulations that date back to the 1930s, and we're going to have to do some coordination with other countries in order to accomplish that.'

The Prime Minister held a meeting at Number 10 on 24 March with the leading executives of 13 international banks including HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Santander, Credit Suisse and Mitsubishi UFJ and met with bankers on Wall Street during his trip to the US.

On fiscal policy Mr Brown told the audience of bankers at the WSJ event. 'Every country will have its own timing for making its fiscal and monetary decisions. But I think there is a determination that you will find in the European communiqué and in what the President said yesterday the same thing - to do whatever it takes to restore the economy to growth.'

In a speech to the European Parliament on 24 March Mr Brown told MEPs there was a 'new era of heightened cooperation' between Europe and America.

In an interview with the London Sumit Editors, Caroline Flint, the Foreign Office Minister for Europe, said the US President had expressed very eloquently the importance of the US relationship with the EU, the world’s biggest trading bloc. 'A strong European Union not only benefits Europe,' she said. 'It also benefits America too – and I think he recognises that.'

The Prime Minister travels to Latin America on 26 March where he will visit Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Santiago, where join US Vice President Joe Biden, the presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay and the Prime Minister of Norway at the Progressive Governance Conference.