Cameron: West must match east

Thursday 24th January 2008, 12:11PM GMT.

Cameron: West must match east Europe and North America should unite to form a free trade zone capable of matching the growing economic clout of south Asia, David Cameron believes.

Speaking at the Barclays Capital dinner in Davos, Switzerland last night, the Conservative leader said a radical "new economic alliance" would help retain western negotiation power as political and economic power shifts eastwards.

"Centre-right free trade economics, and centre-right Atlanticism, can together give the west its proper place in the coming century," he said.

Davos is currently hosting the World Economic Forum, which is being dominated this year by current turmoil on international markets.

Mr Cameron said it would be wrong to "deceive" people with "false remedies" of protectionism, arguing those who advocate free trade in the current climate will in future be viewed as "heroes".

"We need to fight to end immoral subsidies in the developed world, that cripple developing economies by flooding them with cheap imports and preventing them from competing on a level playing field," he added.