§ Mr. Fabian HamiltonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proposals he will make at the G8 Summit in July to obtain better financial arrangements for the world's poorest countries. [129088]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer have both informed the Japanese Presidency of the G7 that they wish to use the opportunity of the Okinawa Summit to review and encourage progress on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt initiative. The UK Government want to see as many countries as possible qualify for debt relief by the end of the year, in line with the G7 target set at Cologne.
The Chancellor also took the opportunity at a meeting of G7 Finance Ministers at Fukuoka last weekend to set out specific UK proposals on providing assistance for those HIPC countries where conflict is undermining the process of developing an effective commitment to poverty reduction which is needed in order to qualify for debt relief.