§ Mr. Paul MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development when she expects the remaining debts for the heavily indebted poor countries to be cancelled. [83195]
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§ Clare ShortSo far, 26 countries out of a total of 37 eligible countries have qualified for relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. Of these, six countries have reached Completion Point and have received full debt relief. A further 20 countries have reached their Decision Point and are receiving interim debt relief. We expect the bulk of these countries to reach Completion Point in the next two years; when they, too, will receive full debt relief. It is difficult to predict when the other 11 countries will qualify for HIPC relief, as many are still affected by conflict and governance problems. Of these, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Comoros and Cote d'lvoire may reach Decision Point in 2003 but, in some cases, this will depend on progress towards peace. The remaining countries are a long way from qualifying as they are affected by conflict or have serious governance concerns; these are Burundi, Congo Republic, Liberia, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Togo.