Mr. John M. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what is her policy in relation to cancellation of third world debt on discrimination in favour of aid recipients which have exercised good stewardship of aid received. [117405]
§ Clare ShortThe purpose of giving debt relief is to benefit the poor. I welcome the international agreement that this should be the main criterion for debt relief. Under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, countries will produce poverty reduction strategies which set out policies and programmes to tackle poverty. The strategy will then provide a framework for all poverty reduction resources available to the country—Government revenue, debt relief savings and international development assistance.
I welcome the IMF and the World bank commitments to use the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) as a basis for their programmes of support. In countries committed to poverty reduction, our bilateral country strategies will take their lead from the PRSP, and I encourage other bilateral donors to do likewise.