Cameron: my speech is not about turning backs on Europe

British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks during the "special address" session at the Annual Meeting 2013 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 24, 2013. (Xinhua/World Economic Forum)

British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday that his Wednesday announcement of the plan to hold an in-or-out referendum on Britain's EU membership is not about "turning our backs on Europe."

"Quite the opposite, this is about how we make the case for a more competitive, more open and more flexible Europe and how we secure the UK's place in it," he said during his keynote speech in the World Economic Forum annual meeting.

"UK is more outward-looking than ever before," he said, urging Europe to do the same.

He called on stakeholders to negotiate a new settlement for Europe that works for the UK and get fresh consent for it.

"It is not just right for the UK. It's necessary for Europe," he said.

Cameron also mentioned main priorities for his country in this year's G8 meeting, including tackling the threats of extremism and terrorist violence.

"The G8 can help discuss how we can best divide up some of this work between us and how we can each individually partner up with the countries worst affected to overcome the threat," he said.

He also said he wants the G8 to bring a new focus on "trade, tax, transparency."

"We need more free trade, we need fairer tax systems, and we need more transparency on how governments and companies operate," he said.

Cameron said the UK is to push for greater openness on trade at the upcoming G8 meeting.

He called on the G8 countries, as well as developing countries to work together on countering corporate tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.

"Speaking out on these things is not anti-capitalism, or anti-business. If you want to keep tax rates low, you have to keep taxes coming in," he said.

Cameron also expected the G8 meeting to "shine a light on company ownership, land ownership and where the money flows from and to" in order to tackle the causes of poverty.

"I want this G8 to lead a big push for transparency across the developing world," he said.