§ Sir Thomas ArnoldTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are his current policies within the Paris Club; which countries are in consultation with the club; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NelsonThe United Kingdom's policy is to work with other creditors in the Paris Club to negotiate sustainable reschedulings of bilateral claims that will maximise recoveries. For severely indebted, low-income 221W countries, the United Kingdom's view is that more concessional relief is required, along the lines proposed by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister in Trinidad in 1990, and the Government are working to achieve a consensus for this.
At its latest meeting, which ended on 4 March, the Paris Club agreed concessional reschedulings for Senegal and Niger. The world bank's publication "World Debt Tables 1993–94", a copy of which is in the Library, contains details of earlier multilateral debt relief agreements.