A return to financial prosperity over the next decade will loom large in talks between the world's leading economies, Chancellor Alistair Darling has said.

He insisted that recovery remains a "work in progress" and called for an end to the "old ways" of thinking ahead of the G20 meeting of finance ministers in Scotland.

Mr Darling stressed the importance of international co-operation ahead of the talks in St Andrews, during a visit to wave energy firm Pelamis in Edinburgh.

He said: "If you look at the last year, countries have acted together because they could see it was in their own self-interest to act together to put money into the economy.

"The key challenge for all of us now is how do we get growth for the next decade? How do we ensure the next decade is one of growth, one of jobs, one of increasing prosperity and that needs international co-operation?

"We've shown what we can do in the last year. The key for us this weekend and beyond is to show what we can do for the next 10."

Mr Darling stressed the need for all countries to get borrowing down, but he said this would be a "gradual" process.

He added: "There's a lot more confidence than there was six months ago, but we're not out of the woods yet. We still have to see recovery firmly established. I think we will see growth in this country around the turn of the year."

But the situation remains "fragile" in other countries, the Chancellor added.

"I think one of the biggest risks we have is for people, for governments, to get into thinking that somehow the job's done, that we can all carry on as normal. We can't - we've got to escape from the old ways of thinking. That means we've got to be prepared to work together and crucially we've got to take action now to tackle the very urgent problem both of climate change and also of securing sustainable long-term growth."