G-8 talks center on debt relief

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LONDON (AP) -- The United States and Britain pressed the world's economic powerhouses yesterday to cancel $15 billion owed by 18 poor nations and free up money to spend on health care, education and infrastructure in those struggling lands.

There was support for the plan at talks among finance ministers from the Group of Eight nations, but some reported differences on how to finance the loan write-offs and said an agreement was unlikely before next month's meeting of G-8 leaders in Scotland.

Britain and the United States want their G-8 partners to support eventually canceling 100 percent of all debts that poor countries owe multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank.

The proposal, negotiated earlier this week in Washington by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush, followed a significant concession from the White House that money used to reimburse the lending institutions would not come out of future aid, British officials said.

The agreement would initially cover 18 nations eligible for debt relief under an IMF-World Bank program to encourage economic and government reforms. Aid experts estimate that would leave those countries with an extra $1 billion to spend at home each year.

A further nine countries are said to be close to meeting targets set out under the initiative and would then qualify for debt relief. Eleven nations have been too hampered by corruption, poor governance, wars or other challenges to complete the economic-reform stage of the initiative, which was started by the World Bank and IMF in 1996.

British treasury chief Gordon Brown said yesterday he was optimistic the G-8 nations -- the United States, Britain, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Russia -- would approve canceling debts.

"Much is still to be done, but I think there is a will to do this in a way that would see the biggest debt settlement the world has ever seen," Mr. Brown said.

Support appeared strong from some countries at the talks, which were to continue today.

Canadian Finance Minister Ralph Goodale said his country was prepared to assume its "full, fair share of the cost responsibility for this."