London - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown Monday warned of a threat of "de-globalization" to the world economy if nations should fail to tackle the current crisis together.

"The stakes are high. Unless we create a new consensus which embeds international financial markets in a framework that is global in governance and accountability I fear that the legitimacy of globalization will be lost imperilling all our prosperity," Brown told the Foreign Press Association in London.

It was essential that the current global economic crisis should not be allowed to allow a retreat from globalization, as that would "reduce global growth, deny us the benefits of global trade and confine millions to global poverty."

The world economy was currently experiencing the "difficult birth pangs of a new global order," said Brown. But seeking national solutions would foster "financial protectionism" and bear "dire consequences for growth."

"The only long-term solution is international, with better regulation and coordinated government intervention," said Brown. "If what happens to a bank in one country can within minutes have devastating effects on banks on a different continent, the only truly international response of policy and governance can be effective," added Brown. (dpa)