Denis Naughten
Question:118 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Finance if he plans initiatives to promote the proposals to cancel certain parts of the debt of the poorest countries. [14438/02]
Written Answers. - Debt Initiative.
Ireland's bilateral aid is given in the form of grants and does not include lending.
I welcome the emphasis given to development at the recent summit in Seville. The upcoming G7 meeting in Canada will also focus on this issue. I have no plans to launch new initiatives. I consider that the HIPC initiative, strengthened with the poverty reduction strategies, is the best mechanism currently available to bring the debts of the highly indebted poor countries to a sustainable level. That said, I recognise and have stated on several occasions that the HIPC initiative in its current form may not provide many of the eligible countries with a permanent exit from unsustainable debt. I have therefore given my support to calls for further enhancement of the HIPC initiative, including additional funding on the part of donors, if the initiative fails to meet its stated aim. I have also publicly stated that the current concept of debt sustainability may need to be revised to take account of basic social needs.
While the issue of debt relief is vitally important in the fight against global poverty it also needs to be looked at in the context of the broader international development effort. Mere transfer of resources from other aid programmes, bilateral or multilateral, to fund debt relief would have little if any net positive effect on poverty reduction. The challenge now, as I see it, is to mobilise resources globally to meet the UN target of 0.7% of GNP for ODA. Accordingly, at the International Conference on "Financing for Development", in Monterrey, Mexico, Ireland called on the international community to take concrete steps to implement the long standing commitment to the UN ODA targets.
Finally, I reiterate that I fully support efforts to combat global poverty and I will continue to press for the implementation of a HIPC initiative that delivers on its aim of exit from unsustainable debt, and to urge the international community to implement commitments to the ODA target.