G8 unlikely to reach deal

BERLIN – Finance ministers of the Group of Eight (G8) countries are unlikely to reach final deal agreement on debt relief for the world’s poorest countries at their upcoming meeting in London this weekend, German government sources said yesterday.

“We won’t reach definitive agreement at the weekend, but there may be some movement towards reaching one,” the source said. Finance ministers from the world’s top industrial countries – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and Russia – will meet in the British capital today and tomorrow for a traditional preparatory meeting ahead of the July 6-7 G8 summit, which is expected to examine the prospect of Africa debt relief.US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are proposing to cancel the multilateral debt of the world’s poorest countries.But France, Germany and Japan are to put forward a less ambitious project at this weekend’s summit, whereby the debt servicing of only a small number of countries would be cancelled, the German source said.The countries concerned were those whose debt was more than one-and-a-half times their exports, who had implemented the reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund and who met basic democratic criteria.The German source said that only five countries currently fulfilled those conditions – Ethiopia, Guyana, Mauritania, Mali and Niger.- Nampa-AFPFinance ministers from the world’s top industrial countries – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and Russia – will meet in the British capital today and tomorrow for a traditional preparatory meeting ahead of the July 6-7 G8 summit, which is expected to examine the prospect of Africa debt relief.US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are proposing to cancel the multilateral debt of the world’s poorest countries.But France, Germany and Japan are to put forward a less ambitious project at this weekend’s summit, whereby the debt servicing of only a small number of countries would be cancelled, the German source said.The countries concerned were those whose debt was more than one-and-a-half times their exports, who had implemented the reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund and who met basic democratic criteria.The German source said that only five countries currently fulfilled those conditions – Ethiopia, Guyana, Mauritania, Mali and Niger.- Nampa-AFP