PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
US POLICY ON DEBT RELIEF FOR NIGER AND ETHIOPIA (16 March 2004)

That this House deplores the role of the US, Germany and Japan in effectively blocking HIPC debt relief for two of the poorest countries of the world, Ethiopia and Niger; notes that staff of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, under the rules of the HIPC initiative, in November 2003 deemed Niger and Ethiopia eligible for additional topping up debt relief, because of severe external shocks; further notes that without debt relief Niger and Ethiopia will be defined as unsustainable by the World Bank and will not be eligible for new concessional loans, and will therefore be doubly penalised; and calls upon the British, American, Japanese and German governments to uphold the rules of the HIPC initiative and provide topping up relief; and, above all, urges the G8 leaders to fulfil the commitment they made at the summit in Cologne 1999 not only to debtor nations but also to millions of British, German, American and Japanese voters, namely that they would provide countries like Ethiopia and Niger with a lasting and sustainable exit from the burden of debt.

Sponsored by:
Derek Wyatt (Labour)