|
|
|
| Sunday, 25 September 2005 |
 |
|
 |
World |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
G-8 ministers to assist impoverished countries WASHINGTON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Group of Eight finance ministers on Friday reaffirmed their commitment to cancel the debts of impoverished countries, in a bid to ease concerns that the deal was about to unravel. U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow, clearly aiming to push the deal to a point where it cannot be rejected, said the proposal could be approved by the boards of the IMF and World Bank "within a week." "I am very pleased to see that the (G-8) deal was reaffirmed today ... with a call to the IMF and the World Bank to move quickly to ratify the agreement through board action," Snow told a news conference. In a letter to World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz, the G8 industrial powers outlined their plans -- and progress -- to fund the deal, which aims to wipe out about $40 billion in debts of some of the world's poorest states. "We believe that this proposal will bring major benefits to IDA's membership; that it will preserve and enhance the bank's key role in supporting low-income countries," said the letter, signed by finance ministers from Canada, the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia, Italy, France and Japan. The International Development Association (IDA) is the World Bank's main lending arm for poor countries. "It will ensure that substantial additional resources are allocated on the basis of need, governance and the ability to use them effectively for poverty reduction and growth," it added. The much-publicized deal, struck at a G-8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in July, has been mired in political haggling between donor countries over how to pay for it and whether other countries should benefit. Smaller European countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria, which were not part of the Gleneagles summit but are large donors, insisted the G-8 make a "strong public commitment" to live up to their promises. The G-8 members said they would finance the debt relief separately from the IDA. "On the basis of our commitments and the actions we have taken and will take, we firmly believe that this initiative will strengthen the financial capacity of IDA," they wrote. But German Deputy Finance Minister Caio Koch-Weser said the deal was not yet in the bag. "Now we have to take this G-8 consensus to the IMF ... and convince other countries, including European ones, that were sceptical to join," Koch-Weser told a news conference. Earlier in the day, British finance minister Gordon Brown said talks with other donors were "on a knife-edge" but no single country could be blamed for causing the impasse. He said he did not want conditions attached to the agreement. "We have got to make sure these commitments are made," Brown added. Debt campaigners urged finance ministers to finalize the deal. "Now is the time, ladies and gentleman, in Washington this weekend to do finally that which you all know is necessary, long overdue and which over one-half of this planet through their participation in Live 8 demands," rock star Bob Geldof said in a statement. "You must not stand now in the face of justice," he added. Other debt activists said countries should show their commitment to poverty reduction by sealing the agreement. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
