U.K's Brown Proposes $21.2 Billion Fund To Aid Small Business In EU

London, UK (AHN) - Early Saturday, U.K.'s Prime Minister Gordan Brown announced that the government will seek additional $21.2 billion (15 billion euros, 12 billion pound) in to the money market to support small businesses.

Brown announced the plan at Downing Street before he left for a meeting with the leaders of France, Germany and Italy in Paris to discuss a coordinated effort to rescue the financial firms in the European region.

"We are seeing, in addition to the national action we are taking, that these global problems about oil, about the credit crunch, need global solutions," he told reporters on Saturday.

Brown also added that he will propose in the meeting hosted by EU and French President Nicolas Sarkozy "to work together to clean up the system..." and "...agree the changes that will open up those areas which have been far too often closed and not transparent."

The proposed 12 billion pound fund is aimed to help small businesses in the U.K. and the rest of Europe to have immediate access to capital so that they can continue providing services.

The U.K.'s authorities are expecting other governments from the region to take similar steps to support financially strapped small to mid-sized firms.