London: Against the backdrop of demands that he should take up at the G-20 summit the issue of money stashed away in foreign banks by Indians, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday discussed with his British counterpart Gordon Brown the need for transparency in international banking system with particular focus on tax havens.

After an hour-long meeting between the two leaders on the eve of the G-20 summit, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said it seemed there was a "coming together of minds" on the issue of transparency and exchange of information in banking system. Terrorism was another major issue that came up during the meeting with Singh and Brown sharing concern over the spread of the menace in Pakistan and Afghanistan with the British leader maintaining his view that the origin of most of the attacks emanated from Pakistan which was a threat to his country as well as others.

Brown said something should be done to encourage Pakistani authorities to work with the international community to deal with this problem. He appreciated efforts made by India in the context of the Mumbai terror attacks in November and made it clear that terrorism should be dealt with firmly. Singh told Brown of India's expectations from Pakistan in the context of the Mumbai attacks. 

To a query, Menon said the question of Pakistan will not come up in the summit but would figure in discussions with leaders on its sidelines. On the G-20 summit, Singh and Brown expressed satisfaction over the deliberations at the preparatory stage and how to get over the current crisis not just to restore the confidence in the banking system but how to go about economic recovery.

Singh said there was need for concerted action by developed countries to create an aggregate demand in the global economy and resume instant flow of credit to developing countries. Menon said there was a discussion on how the summit might consider common principles of banking, tax havens, hedge funds and regulatory aspects and how to get funds for trade flow by the financial system. Singh spoke of the dangers of financial protectionism of various forms and the need to find global solutions. "We cannot get rid of the open economy. We have to work on mechanisms to strengthen the open economy," he said adding, in this regard there is need for some sort of international agreement on how the global system of banking can be made transparent by exchange of information and regulation.

To a question on whether India would seek to enhance its weightage in institutions like the IMF in the backdrop of China's move in that direction, Menon said India did not need to approach these institutions for funds now but was ready for raising of quotas. "It is an ongoing issue like the governance structure of international bodies," he said. Replying to another question on the negotiations on the eve of the summit, Menon said Indian representatives at the meeting have told him that they going on smoothly and there was a coming together of minds on issues of cooperation. On the issue of anti-protectionism, he said what India was looking for was a conviction of the leaders that protectionism was dangerous. India was always in favour of an open rule-based world trading system and for successful conclusion of the development round of the Doha discussions.