§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will make a statement on the decision of the Paris Club not to discuss debt relief for Uganda at their meeting on 16 May. [123973]
§ Clare ShortUganda received debt relief of $347 million in 1998 under the original HIPC initiative, and, earlier this year, qualified for a further $656 million relief under the revised HIPC framework. The Government of Uganda was scheduled to come to a meeting with the Paris Club of official bilateral creditors on 16 May to implement this element of their debt relief. However, in the week before the meeting, we, and a number of other Governments, were concerned to receive reports of Uganda's role in fighting at Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was therefore agreed that the implementation of Uganda's debt relief should be postponed. I am pleased that the Government of Uganda are responding to these concerns. We hope that the Paris Club meeting will be rescheduled soon. Uganda continues to receive interim relief on its debt service payments to the IMF and World bank.