*PRESS AND MEDIA RELEASE*
Addressed to: Ambassadors in G7 Embassies
Dear Madam / Sir
MAKE POVERTY HISTORY!
On 16/17 April the World Bank and International Monetary Fund will meet again in Washington. On the agenda are a number of proposals to achieve greater and faster relief of the debt burden on poor countries and, in particular, proposals to finance this relief through the sale or revaluation of the gold reserves of the International Monetary Fund.
It is now abundantly clear that without a lasting solution to the current debt crisis there will be little hope that the majority of heavily indebted poor countries or other countries with unsustainable debt burdens will be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Such a failure would not simply be another sad statistic. It would be a failure measured in human lives and lost potential. It would be a failure by world leaders to place the interests of our common humanity above national self-interest, at a time when the need and urgency has never been greater, nor the world wealthier or more possessed of the resources required.
We note the words of Kofi Annan in his Report for the Millennium Summit this September:
“we should redefine debt sustainability as the level of debt that allows a country to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and reach 2015 without an increase in debt ratios. For most HIPC countries, this will require exclusively grant-based finance and 100 per cent debt cancellation, while for many heavily indebted non-HIPC and middle-income countries, it will require significantly more debt reduction than has yet been on offer.”
Your government is a member of the G7 group of the world’s richest nations, who together hold more than half the votes at both the World Bank and the IMF. It is within the power of the G7 group of countries to take the necessary steps to remove the impediment of debt repayment from poor countries, in order to free up resources that may be invested in the health, education, and livelihoods of their citizens, and help make poverty history.
We ask that you convey this message to your government as they prepare for the coming crucial meetings of the International Finance Institutions, and look forward to your response to the issues raised in this letter.
Sincerely
Peter Zwart
For Jubilee Aotearoa Debt Action Network
Notes to Editors
- The Jubilee Aotearoa Debt Action Network is a coalition that meets regularly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, New Zealand Aid, Treasury, and in co-operation with the Council for International Development (CID). Its membership includes: the Anglican Social Justice Office, Arena, Caritas Aotearoa, Christian World Service, CID, Development Resource Centre, Latin America Committee, Oxfam New Zealand, Student Christian Movement, Tear Fund, World Vision and many concerned individuals.
