LONDON, Nov. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair called here on Monday night for the tackling of challenges of globalization.

    In a speech delivered at the Lord Mayor's Banquet at Guildhall, central London, in honor of the immediate past mayor, Blair said, the world is "integrating at a fast rate, with enormous economic, cultural and political consequences."

    However, Blair noted, "Globalization isn't something done to us.It is something we are, consciously or unconsciously doing to and for ourselves."

    But with globalization, came the need for "stronger and more effective global, multilateral action" to tackle the biggest problems facing the modern world, namely terrorism, climate changeand trade.

    "The most obvious is global terrorism. Barely a week goes by without another country being added to the grieving list of victims. Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia, India and of course here in London," he said.

    On climate change, the prime minister called for a binding framework to take the world beyond 2012 when Kyoto protocol ends, saying "It can only happen if the US, China and India join with Europe, Japan and others to create such a framework."

    Failure to deal with climate change will "mean not only increasing the damage to the environment but in a world of greater competition for carbon fuel, real pressure on energy supply and energy prices," he said.

    Blair focused his speech mainly on trade, another challenge, stressing that the world had a chance to build on the progress made during the Gleneagles G8 summit, at next month's Doha development round of talks in Hong Kong.

    Doha is an opportunity to "tackle some of the most fundamental injustices at the heart of world trade", he said, including agriculture, nonagricultural market access, and services.

    Blair announced at the banquet that Britain would treble trade aid to 100 million pounds (some 174 million US dollars) a year by 2010, and urging the other industrial nations to do the same.

    "Agreement on trade is also a metaphor for today's world. Trade increases prosperity. Prosperity gives people and nations a stake in the future. Such a stake shows how we gain by helping and not harming each other ... we will reap what we sow; live with what we do not act to change."

    "In a modern world there is no security or prosperity at home unless we deal with the global challenges of conflict, terrorism, climate change and poverty. Self interest and mutual interest are inextricably linked," he noted. Enditem