LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy will hold talks in Paris on Wednesday on the global economic crisis and the forthcoming G20 meeting, Brown's spokesman said.
Brown will then travel on to Berlin for similar talks with Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel, the spokesman added.
"Part of the purpose of the meetings with Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy will be not only to discuss the European response (to the financial crisis) but also to discuss preparations for the G20 meeting in April."
Brown also has talks with U.S. Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke in London on Tuesday.
Last month Germany and Britain, two of Europe's biggest economies, became embroiled in a diplomatic row after Germany's finance minister criticised Brown's plans to borrow billions of pounds to try to stop a recession turning into a slump.
With Britain chairing the G20 group of big industrialised and emerging economies this year, Brown and finance minister Alistair Darling will step up discussions with other countries in the coming weeks "on the next steps forward" in tackling the financial crisis, Brown's office said.
Brown will host a G20 summit in April to assess pledges to assist the world economy made at a Washington summit last November.
Brown's government is spending billions of pounds of borrowed money on tax cuts and public spending aimed at stopping the downturn turning into a slump and has urged other countries to follow suit.
Despite last month's criticism of Brown's plans from German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, Merkel's coalition partners are now trying to hammer out a new economic stimulus package, which could total 50 billion euros ($67.8 billion).
"We are seeing a more co-ordinated response across Europe to the economic crisis. There is debate taking place in Germany at the moment on a second fiscal stimulus package, but it's clearly for them to make any announcements on that," Brown's spokesman said. (Reporting by Frank Prenesti; Editing by Chris Pizzey)