ecovery from a debt crisis is bothdifferent and more difficult thanrecovering from a cyclical recession.Ultimately, there are only three ways todeal with the overhang of debts: rescheduling them,writing them off, or paying them back.Highly indebted households, and governments simplycan not spend their way out of a debt crisis. The morethey spend, the more the debts will rise and thefundamental problem will grow. Instead, we need toconfront the problems directly. I believe we need to dothree things. Get to grips with the debt and restorecredibility and confidence. Make it easier to dobusiness and create jobs by freeing up oureconomies. And, in a global crisis, working togetheracross the world co-ordinating our action - includingboosting world trade, starting with the Doha Round.Let me briefly take each in turn. TACKLING THE DEBT First and foremost we need to deal directly with ourdebts. In Britain, we have learnt from Canada's ownexperience when you were able to take action to paydown debt. When our government took office in Britainin May 2010, we inherited the biggest budget deficitin our peacetime history. We faced the risk of risinginterest rates, falling confidence and even questionsabout our credit-worthiness as a country.So we have taken some really tough decisions torescue our public finances and begun to implementthem. How fast you need to go will depend oncircumstances. With a deficit that was forecast to bethe highest in the G20 and ballooning debt, the UKhas had to act quickly.Britain's experience contains an invaluable lesson:it is possible to earn credibility and get ahead of themarkets through decisive action. But by its nature, a global crisis cannot be solved by countries actingalone. In a global economy, we need every country in the world to show the leadership to address its problems. With others, we continue to argue we need to increaseglobal demand by rebalancing where surplus countriesspend more, helping deficit countries to increase theirexports and grow faster. Of course this is vital and willhelp the deficit countries to grow and repay debt. But more spending by surplus countries will not on itsown deal with the debts. And that brings me to theEurozone. I was an adviser in the Treasury when wefixed our currencies through the Exchange RateMechanism. It failed. And it taught me that different countriessometimes need very different economic policies. So I do not support Britain joining the Euro and never will. But Britain has a strong interest in the success ofthe Eurozone. We all do. Because the problems in the Eurozone arenow so big that they have begun to threaten thestability of the world economy. Why? Because the Euroarea is one of the largest markets in the world. And theEuro is the world's second largest currency. And asthese problems are not being solved, while they grow,businesses do not invest, and confidence is sapped. Inthe Euro area itself and, increasingly, worldwide also. Eurozone countries must act swiftly to resolve thecrisis. They must implement what they have agreedand they must demonstrate they have the politicalWHERE THERE IS A WILL THEREISAWAY140G20 MEMBER COUNTRIESTHE RT HON DAVID CAMERON, PRIME MINISTER, THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELANDR

will to do what is necessary to ensure the stability ofthe system.One way or another they have to find a fundamentaland lasting solution to the heart of the problem - thehigh level of indebtedness in many Euro countries. Andwhatever course they take, Europe's banks need to bemade strong enough so that they can help support therecovery, not put it at risk.At the same time we can not put off the fundamentalproblem of the lack of competitiveness in many Euroarea countries. Endlessly putting off what has to bedone does not help. In fact, it makes the problemworse, lengthening the shadow of uncertainty thatlooms over the world economy. MAKING IT EASIER TO DO BUSINESS When you cannot cut taxes or increase spending toboost demand and when interest rates are already low,what is left to government is to take the simple,straightforward steps to boost potential for growth.And we should remember that in the long term it is notfiscal policy that makes economies grow, it is makingus more productive that is essential for our future long-term prosperity.This means making it easier to set up a new company,employ people, invest and grow a business. This maysound simple but it does not mean it is easy. You quickly find you come up against all sorts ofbarriers, obstacles and regulations. In Britain we are determined to address this. We arecreating the most competitive corporate tax regime inthe G20. Cutting the time it takes to set up a business.Reducing tax costs and regulatory burdens for newbusinesses. Putting regulations up on the internet sopeople can see clearly what they are. And we have issued a "one-in-one-out" rule forregulation. So any Minister who wants to bring in a newregulation, will have to get rid of an existing one first.We are prioritising science and infrastructure. We arealso reforming our education system and introducingnew apprenticeships to help improve the skills of ouryoung people.And I am delighted that we are following in thefootsteps of Prime Minister Harper and hosting thenext World Skills summit in London next month whichwill see 1,000 young people from 50 countriescompeting to be the best of the best in 46 differentskills, from robotics to web design.GOVERNANCE AND TRADE So I have argued that we need to act to get to grips withthe overhang of debt in our national economies, thatwe need to make our economies more competitive andalso that a global crisis cannot be solved by countriesacting alone. Now there are those who argue that internationalaction needs new global institutions. I do not agree. Itis not new institutions, it is political will we need - andopportunities like the G20 which can develop apolitical consensus. You can have all the meetings, sub-committees andprocesses in the world, but if there is no political will,we will never tackle these problems and secure thestrong, sustainable and balanced growth we need. nThese remarks by Prime Minister David Cameron areexcerpted from the Prime Minister's speech to the CanadianParliament on 22 September 2011. For any furtherinformation please visit: www.number10.gov.uk" "IT IS NOT NEWINSTITUTIONS, IT IS POLITICALWILL WE NEED - AND OPPORTUNITIESLIKE THE G20WHICH CAN DEVELOP A POLITICAL CONSENSUSG20 MEMBER COUNTRIES141Below: David CameronPhoto: Crown Copyright