§ 9. Mrs. FyfeTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the likely progress at the G7 summit in ensuring recognition that debt repayment conditions should not entail less money being available for basic health and education programmes. [85982]
§ 11. Mr. MullinTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent progress has been made on debt relief for the poorest countries; and if she will make a statement. [85984]
§ 27. Helen JacksonTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will support proposals to link the relief of indebtedness in developing countries to measures to invest in primary education and health care. [86001]
§ Mrs. Ann WintertonTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what proposals her Department has for developing new mechanisms to ensure a greater linkage between debt relief and poverty reduction. [85972]
§ Clare ShortWe are pressing for a revised Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC) to provide at least twice as much debt relief, twice as fast, and for the provision of debt relief to be more tightly linked to policies which help reduce poverty.
174WWe are pleased that, at their meeting in Frankfurt on 12 June, G7 Finance Ministers were able to agree that a substantial improvement to HIPC is required. G7 Leaders will be discussing it further this week and we look forward to the announcement of a package on debt relief at the weekend. The final details of the new HIPC package will be settled at the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF in September. The Chancellor and I also announced last week that we will be contributing a further $100 million to the Trust Fund in order to help the Multilateral Development Banks meet their share of the cost of the HIPC debt relief.
§ 14. Mr. SavidgeTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what plans she has to raise at the forthcoming G7 summit proposals to strengthen the linkage between debt relief and the 2015 international development targets; and if she will make a statement. [85987]
§ Clare ShortWe anticipate that the discussion on debt at the G8 Summit in Cologne will build on the Communiqué from the World Bank's Development Committee in April, which noted the need for faster, deeper and wider debt relief and emphasised the link to poverty reduction. It is essential that debt relief leads to more resources being invested in programmes to eradicate poverty and achieve the international development goals. We are taking every opportunity to press this issue with our international partners.
§ 26. Mr. Bill MichieTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions she has had with representatives of non-governmental organisations concerning debt relief; and if she will make a statement. [86000]
§ Clare ShortI have had many meetings with NGOs to discuss debt relief. Most recently the Chancellor of the Exchequer and I met Comic Relief and the Director of the NGOs which form the British Overseas Aid Group (BOAG). We discussed the UK objectives on enhancing the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. We are seeking agreement to lower the debt to export ratio to 150 from 200 per cent. and the fiscal ratio to 200 from 280 per cent. We believe that this will provide heavily indebted poor countries with a permanent exit from their debt problems. We are also pressing for debt relief to be provided in a way that will free up resources for poverty eradication in the early years. We made clear the important contribution made by the Churches and NGOs in their international campaign for improved debt relief.