Brown to aim for economic growth

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday said he and U.S. President George W. Bush would do whatever they could to ensure the U.S. and British economies "resume their paths of upward growth."

"We agreed our determination that in advance of the July G8 meeting in Japan, where all the major economies will meet together, we will do everything in our power to ensure economic stability and growth," Brown said at a joint news conference with Bush after a meeting at the White House.

"We should be vigilant in maintaining the pro-active approach to monetary and fiscal policy to enable our economies to resume their paths of upward growth," he added. "We want all our international partners to do the same."

The Group of 8 industrialized nations, including the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia, is scheduled to hold a summit in Japan on July 7-9.

Brown urged nations to move swiftly to enact reforms to improve credit-market transparency and bank risk management practices to help restore confidence in financial markets battered by months of turmoil triggered by rising U.S. mortgage defaults.

Bush said he was hopeful legislation to stimulate the economy by providing tax rebates to consumers would soon bear fruit.

"It's beginning to kick in a bit, but the program hasn't really taken effect," he said, noting that rebate checks will begin to go out next month. "We feel good this will help our economy."

(Reporting by Emily Kaiser and Tim Ahmann; Editing by Leslie Adler)