Tony Blair today called for reform of the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the G8 to meet the global challenges of the 21st century, including climate change and global terrorism.

The speech - the last in a series of three foreign policy addresses during a 48-hour visit to Washington - was promoted as an attempt to restore the Prime Minister's reputation as a believer in multilateral solutions to international problems.

It comes against a backdrop of failure and frustration within multilateral organisations on international trade talks, the Middle East peace process and possible UN sanctions on Iran.

Mr Blair told his audience at Georgetown University that market fluctuations, mass migration, the growth of global terrorism and the changing climate were all events whose effects were felt in every country, and which had to be tackled by international agreement.

“To meet effectively the challenge that faces us, we must fashion an international community that both embodies, and acts in pursuit of global values: liberty, democracy, tolerance, justice,” said Mr Blair.

“These are the values we believe in. These are the values universally accepted across all nations, faiths and races, though not by all elements within them. These are values that can inspire and unify.”

He echoed recent remarks by Gordon Brown who has called for the IMF to "focus more on crisis prevention as well as crisis resolution" by extending its monitoring role to developing economies. He said that the case for merging the IMF and the World Bank - both concerned with helping developing nations - should be looked at.

The Prime Minister called for reform of the UN Security Council to make it more representative, without going into specific details.

He also suggested establishing a multilateral system for providing countries with the enriched uranium they need to develop civil nuclear power, without the threat of them proceeding on to nuclear weapons programmes.

"The governments of the world do not believe in freedom, but the people of the world do," he said.

The Bush Administration, in particular, has been sceptical about international deals on issues such as climate change and the Middle East.
But Mr Blair insisted: "Acting multilaterally should always be our preference. Big countries fought not to duck big issues and make them worse."

Downing Street believes that this is a good time to "test the water" in America on climate change because rising oil prices and fears about the security of supply have served to "concentrate the minds" of the US Administration.

Although there is little prospect of Mr Bush signing up to the Kyoto protocol which sets targets for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, it the US is interested in practical measures such as promoting the use of new technologies that produce less carbon dioxide.

Mr Blair returned many times to the theme of Iraq, drawing on his visit to Iraq earlier this week to appeal for support for the fledgling democracy. He said that he had found a different atmosphere among the democratically elected Iraqi government than among the old transitional and interim authorities that governed the country for the last three years.

"These are not stooges or placemen," he said. "This is a child of democracy struggling to be born. We an the international community are the midwives"

He urged sceptical countries to consign disputes over the Iraq war to the past and called for a "new concord to displace the old contention".

"The war split the world. The struggle of Iraqis for democracy should unite it," he said.

Mr Blair said that the the birth of democracy in Iraq had importance far beyond that country’s boundaries, and that the West should be "champions of change" in the Middle East as a whole.

Wherever possible, the West should work to expand democracy and free speech - including in Iran, although he stressed that change should not be imposed there. It was in the interests of the world that Iranians achieved "the greater freedom which I have no doubt most Iranians want", he said.

On the Middle East, Mr Blair called for a change of pace in the peace process, and repeated his call for Palestinian terror group Hamas to recognise the state of Israel.

He urged "a speeded-up pathway to final status negotiations" as an alternative to what he will describe as a continuing descent into despair in the region.

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