Written Answers. - Debt Relief.
Joe Costello
Ceist:
83
Mr. Costello
asked the
Minister for Foreign Affairs
if an Irish position on debt, trade and aid has been forwarded to the international bodies dealing with these matters, including the Bretton Woods institutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[26520/02]
Gay Mitchell
Ceist:
156
Mr. G. Mitchell
asked the
Minister for Foreign Affairs
the actions being taken by the Government in relation to heavily indebted poor countries as raised by a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12.
[26580/02]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 83 and 156 together.
I refer the Deputies to the reply to recent questions on the issue of debt relief given by my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, to Deputies Stanton, Shortall and Wall on 13 November last. In July 2002, the Minister of State launched a new debt relief strategy Policy on Developing Country Debt, which had been agreed with the Department of Finance. This updates and develops the Government's position on the debt crisis which had been issued in September 1998. Immediately after its launch, this strategy paper was formally presented to the World Bank and the IMF by our national representatives in both these institutions.
The strategy raises a number of concerns about the operation of the initiative of the heavily indebted poor countries, HIPC, such as the adequacy of the existing level of debt relief and the projections and assumptions used in the calculation of sustainable debt levels. The World Bank and the IMF have admitted that between eight and ten countries emerging from the HIPC process continue to have unsustainable debt levels.
While in Washington last month, the Minister of State, Deputy Kitt, had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of development issues, including debt, with the World Bank. He also briefed Canada, the leader of our constituency at the Bretton Woods institutions, on our views on the debt issue as detailed in our debt strategy.
In September of this year, the Taoiseach reiterated our commitment in principle to debt cancellation in his address to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. In October, Ireland participated in a World Bank meeting convened to discuss the current financing gap that has arisen in the HIPC trust fund.
Earlier this month, the vice-president of the World Bank, Mr. Jean Francois Rischard, visited Dublin and had a series of meetings with the Minister for Finance, the Minister of State and others. At his meeting with Mr. Rischard, the Minister of State laid particular emphasis on the importance we attach to our debt strategy in general and the question of debt cancellation in particular.
My Department, in close co-ordination with the Department of Finance, will continue to promote our views on debt relief in all relevant international fora. In the coming months, we will monitor closely developments in the HIPC process and participate actively in all relevant international meetings. Our debt strategy will guide us as we seek to ensure that the HIPC efforts to achieve the millennium development goals are not inhibited by a continuing high level of debt and that a sustainable exit from the debt treadmill is secured.
With regard to trade and development, the Minister of State took advantage of his recent contacts with the World Bank to underline the importance we attach to the links between both issues and the need to build trade capacity in developing countries. The focus of Ireland Aid's funding to date at the multilateral level has been to build capacity in the least developed countries to engage with the World Trade Organisation.
The single largest Ireland Aid programme in the area of trade capacity building is support for the establishment and operation of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has contributed $1 million to the centre's endowment fund and Ireland Aid is contributing $250,000 annually for five years to help fund the centre's running costs. The centre will assist developing countries, particularly the least developed, to take advantage of their legal rights under the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism.
