Some of the largest businesses in the world have been asked by the Prime Minister to help meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The targets of reducing infant mortality and providing primary education will only be met with "an extraordinary effort", Mr Brown told business leaders at an event in Canary Wharf earlier today.
More than 80 CEOs from some of the world's largest companies came to London to discuss new business initiatives to reduce poverty in the developing world.
The Business Call to Action event highlighted initiatives by more than a dozen global companies, including Citi, Coca-Cola, Diageo, Microsoft, Sumitomo Chemical, Thomson Reuters and Vodafone - with a view to inspiring others to do the same.
Mr Brown argued that it is the absence of big corporations in developing countries that "blights the lives" of poor people.
The PM said that the private sector is of "critical importance" in focussing attention on enterprise, on free and fair trade and open markets. Companies can use innovation, specialist skills and technology to deliver solutions in a way that governments cannot, he said.
More than a dozen global companies have announced projects that showcase long-term business initiatives centred on developing countries. They include a project to deliver financial services via mobile phones so that millions of people have access to basic bank accounts for the first time.
The Prime Minister said:
"So to every private sector company in the world, in Britain and here in the City of London my message today is: join us. You can make a difference.
"We know that if we can work together to forge a new and far-sighted coalition for change we can ensure that the benefits of globalisation flow not just to the few and fortunate but to every part of our global society."
At the UN in July 2007, the PM made a Call to Action to governments, businesses, NGOs and faith groups to focus resources and effort on delivering the MDGs by 2015.
President Kufuor of Ghana and President Kagame of Rwanda, who attended the event, later held private talks with the Prime Minister.
