Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

Former British prime minister and current Middle East Envoy Tony Blair gestures as he delivers a lecture on Faith and Globalisation at the National University in Singapore March 26, 2009. Blair spoke about improving diplomatic relations through fostering dialogue and understanding between religions.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    SINGAPORE, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said here Thursday that the current economic crisis cannot be handled by one country alone and both the developed world and the developing world should be involved in overcoming it.

    Giving a speech on "Faith and Globalization" to some 600 people at the National University of Singapore, Blair said that the characteristic of globalization is its fast moving speed producing enormous changes, and the consequences are that the world is pushed together and the power is shifting east.

    He said that the upcoming G20 summit which will take place in London is a neat illustration.

    "Ten years ago it would be a G8, today it is a G20," Blair said, adding that it would be "unthinkable today as well as foolish" to have a world summit on their economy without China, India, Brazil and other emerging and developing countries.

Former British prime minister and current Middle East Envoy Tony Blair gestures as he delivers a lecture on Faith and Globalisation at the National University in Singapore March 26, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    "Nobody believes that it is a crisis can be handled by one country alone, it's got to be handled cooperatively, together, globally, and it's got to be done in a way involved not just the developed world but the developing world," Blair added.

    He said that the crucial challenges in the world today are in some ways about globalization and require global solutions.

    "The simple most import consequence is that they reflect the world that is being pushed together, in which incidentally no longer is it the west, Europe and the America that is dominant," said Blair, "An alliance has to be forged across the east and the west."

    Blair also stressed the importance of interfaith understanding in solving challenges facing the world.

    "Where there is ignorance there is fear, where there is fear there is often conflict. Alternatively, where there is understanding there is more likely to be respect and where there is respect there is more likely to be peace," said Blair.