§ Mr. Fabian HamiltonTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what pressures she will bring to bear on countries attending the G8 Summit in July to ensure that the debt owed by the world's poorest countries is cancelled. [129085]
§ Clare ShortWhen the Prime Minister met the Japanese Prime Minister last month, they agreed the importance of discussing debt issues at the G8 Summit in Okinawa.
It was at the Cologne Summit last year that the G7 agreed a very substantial improvement to the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, which was agreed by the boards of the World bank and IMF at the annual meetings in September 1999. The enhanced HIPC initiative provides faster, wider and deeper debt relief to poor countries committed to eradicating poverty.
The emphasis now is on implementing the enhanced initiative, so that the target of three-quarters of eligible countries starting to receive debt relief before the end of the year can be achieved. At the spring meetings of the World bank and IMF in April, we persuaded the bank and the Fund to establish a joint committee to oversee the implementation process. The Government are committed to keeping up the momentum not only in the run up to the G8 Summit but also beyond it.