- Title: VARIOUS: THE G8 DEBT RELIEF PLAN HAS MET WITH MIXED REACTIONS
- Date: 29th June 2005
- Summary: (W3) LONDON, UK (RECENT) (REUTERS) 1. GROUP OF G8 TRADE MINISTERS POSING FOR PICTURES AHEAD OF MEETING; MINISTERS CHATTING; GROUP OF MINISTERS SEEN FROM ABOVE 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) GORDON BROWN, BRITISH FINANCE MINISTER, SPEAKING AFTER G8 TRADE MINISTERS MEETING, SAYING: "Eighteen countries will have their debts cancelled immediately, worth aro
- Embargoed: 14th July 2005 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM/ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA/) NAIROBI, KENYA/ BERLIN, GERMANY/) BRUSSELS, BELGIUM/) MASERU, LESOTHO/ WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES AND MORONI, COMOROS
- City:
- Country: USA Belgium United States Comoros England United Kingdom Kenya Lesotho Ethiopia Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA4IY352VJS5S4Y7P5GQR90SA84
- Story Text: The G8 debt relief plan has met with mixed
reactions. One thing is clear, however: both Africa and the
developed world want aid to reach the poor.
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G8 leaders meeting in London in June announce an historic agreement:
they decided to wipe off debt owed by the world's most indebted countries.
Speaking after the meeting, British Trade Minister Gordon Brown
said that a first step had been taken to wipe out 40 billion U.S. dollars owed
by the developing world.
"Eighteen countries will have their debts cancelled
immediately, worth around 40 billion (U.S.) dollars. Nine further countries
are expected to have their debts written off in the next twelve to eighteen
months," Brown said.
That news was greeted with mixed reactions on the continent:
"If we get a chance not to pay we can use that money for
our country's development, so that benefits our country," said Ato
Habetamu, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
"After this cancellation has been done how does it seep back
to the common man? Let us just work hard to pay our debts and not look for
more aid, we develop a strong economy which can sustain itself," said a
more sceptical Caleb Arnaswache, in Kenya.
The news also met with some scepticism on on the streets of
Europe, where some said aid from the developed world would not deliver real
change in Africa until changes occurred in Africa itself. Others said debt
relief was a real step forward.
With 2005 slated as the Year for Africa, activists around the
world are pushing leaders to act decisively to reduce poverty in Africa and
elsewhere.
Speaking in London to announce that Live8 concerts would be held
worldwide to pressure G8 leaders to provide more aid to fight poverty, event
organiser Bob Geldof said a world of the concerned could bring about change
through political pressure.
"On the second of July in the great cities in the world, in
the richest countries, the greatest artists ever assembled will perform
simultaneously and everyone will be asked to remember that if their finance
minister or prime minister or chancellor or president does not do everything
they can on behalf of the 800 million impoverished Africans, then we will
remember when it comes time to vote," Geldof said.
More aid would help countries like tiny Lesotho. Lesotho's foreign debt
was too low to win relief. But with 50 percent unemployment and 30 percent of
its population HIV positive, these people also want help.
"We don't need spoon feeding by the G8 we need debt relief.
If we can get debt relief we can probably find our way out," said Seabata
Ntele, a banking analyst.
"The fact that they didn't write it off is very unfortunate
because I think it would have done us some good. The money that is going to be
used to pay off the debt could have been used to find jobs for the people that
have come back from the mines"
Britain has called on the developed world to double aid to Africa
by 2015. But British Prime Minister Tony Blair has found it difficult to
convince Washington.
The United States has so far opposed the plan give Africa some 50
billion U.S. dollars a year through global capital markets.
U.S. President George W. Bush, while agreeing to forgive debt, would
rather improve trade to help economic growth in Africa.
"All of us share a fundamental commitment to advancing
democracy and opportunity on the continent of Africa. And all of us believe
that one of the most effective ways to advance democracy and deliver hope to
the people of Africa is through mutually beneficial trade," Bush
said.
Africans are watching to see whether the developed world delivers
on promises to provide constructive, sustainable aid to the continent during
the Year for Africa. If activists like Bob Geldof get their way, this could be
a watershed year for the continent.
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