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London (pte034/13.06.2005/12:24) - Financial leaders from the G8 countries made an historic decision on Saturday when they unanimously decided to give 100 per cent debt relief to 18 of Africa's struggling countries. The industrialised nations, which consist of the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia, will write off US$40 billion (eur 33 billion) in debt, effective immediately.
The World Bank http://www.worldbank.org, the International Monetary Fund http://www.imf.org and the African Development Fund will immediately write of the money owed them by the following 18 countries: Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The historic deal will save these countries a combined total of $1.5 billion a year in debt repayments.
Britain's Treasury chief Gordon Brown said of the monumental movement: "We are presenting the most comprehensive statement that finance ministers have ever made on the issues of debt, development, health and poverty."
U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow, who helped negotiate the deal, called it "an achievement of historic proportions."
Nicaraguan and Zambian ministers said the relief would allow an improvement in health and education programmes.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: "It is a splendid start and one hopes that they will, from here, go on to cancel all debt for most of the countries - I gather it is about 62 countries - who are heavily indebted." But he added that although the continent had had corrupt leaders squander aid before, "Remember the West had a hand in promoting some of those leaders because it suited them at the time."
Bob Geldof, who is organising the Live 8 concerts on 2nd July in lieu of the G8 summit, said: "Tomorrow, 280 million Africans will wake up for the first time in their lives without owing you or me a penny from the burden of debt that has crippled them for so long"
"The end will not be achieved until we have the complete package... of debt cancellation, doubling of aid, and trade justice," he added.
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