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text of the speech given by Chancellor Gordon Brown at the British Chambers of Commerce''s annual conference in London.

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M2 PRESSWIRE-31 March 2003-UK Government: text of the speech given by Chancellor Gordon Brown at the British Chambers of Commerce's annual conference in London(C)1994-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

RDATE:03312003

British Chambers of Commerce Check against delivery It is a pleasure to be here this morning and to have the opportunity to thank all of you here for the contribution you make to the success of the British economy.

Your dynamism, your achievements, your success for Britain is evidence that Britain truly is an enterprising nation.

You are the wealth creators, the men and women who make our nation more prosperous And with over 135,000 businesses as members, the British Chambers of Commerce are a powerful voice, championing the cause of businesses across government and around the country.

And I want to congratulate your chief executive and staff for their work -- and your new president Isabella Moore for the work she does regionally, nationally and internationally to make that voice of the British Chambers of Commerce count for Britain.

Madam President, today our country is having to deal with a new security threat: the danger from states with weapons of mass destruction and the risk of those weapons falling into the hands of terrorists.

All of us know families who have someone in the armed forces in Iraq.

All of us will wish to send them our best wishes in all they do and achieve for our country All of us will wish to send condolences to the families of the 25 British servicemen who have sacrificed their lives.

And all of us will wish to ensure that the armed forces are properly equipped for the future.

So I can tell you that I have set aside a total of 3 billion pounds in a special reserve to be drawn upon by the armed forces where necessary, so that we can honour the commitments we have made to our forces.

Between us Europe and the United States account for 70 per cent of the world's output.

And I believe that, as Tony Blair has said, one of the lessons of the United Nations debates over Iraq is that both great continents should recognise that we do better as partners not rivals, not at odds with each other but true allies in creating both peace and prosperity round the world.

We know that Europe and America have military ties in NATO that have bound us together throughout the tense cold war years in pursuit of peace.

I believe we must create as strong economic and political ties so that together in these dangerous post cold war years we can work together in pursuit of peace and prosperity.

And so we must strengthen not weaken our links, and deepen and widen the transatlantic alliance.

And so I propose that we act to remove the remaining industrial tariffs that divide us and cause unnecessary trade disputes.

I propose we liberalise services across Europe and America.

I propose we agree a more consistent approach to competition policy.

And I propose in the same way that in the 1980s the Cecchini study demonstrated that cooperation in Europe would bring growth, jobs and prosperity, we examine and demonstrate the gains in jobs, output and prosperity from breaking down the barriers that frustrate trade and commerce between the USA and Europe. We should recognise that when Europe and America are set apart from each other everyone loses but when Europe and America work as one in partnership there is little that we cannot achieve for the world together.

President, in the last few months a hesitant global recovery has been stalled as the oil price has fluctuated widely, world trade growth has been slow and, partly because of all the political uncertainties, global equity markets have fallen.

And I understand the concerns that this uncertainty causes for businesses, large and small I know the difficulties you as manufacturers and service companies trading in a world economy face when twenty of the world's biggest economies, accounting for sixty per cent of world output, have been in recession.

I know the effect on business investment when, continent-by-continent, through America, Europe and Asia we have had to face the first simultaneous world slowdown for almost thirty years.

The recent volatility in global stock markets - with US markets now down 43 per cent since their peak, UK markets down 47 per cent, France down 61...