AFRICAN LEADERS MEET G8 FOR HISTORIC 'DEBT SUMMIT'

Jubilee 2000 Press Release, 20 July 2000

At an unprecedented meeting today in Tokyo between leaders from the South and the G8 (Group of Eight) leaders, the G8 admitted that they had failed to deliver their debt cancellation promises of last year, and that they needed to improve on the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC).

Presidents from Nigeria, Algeria, South Africa and Thailand put forward a strong case for 100% debt cancellation for the poorest countries at the 'Debt Summit' in Tokyo. The G8 responded with "encouraging words", said President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, chair of the G77 group of developing nations. "They (the G8) are starting to say the right things. They must be pressurized into doing the right things. We now have something to hold them to... It is a question of how to translate these encouraging words into concrete action."

"The G8 now accept that they did not perform on their promises last year. They now also realise that we should go beyond HIPC. That came from them."

On Friday, the G8 retreat for their annual Summit on the island of Okinawa, where Jubilee 2000 says they must respond with concrete plans to the huge international pressure and the appeals of the leaders representing 4.5 billion of the world‚s people.

Even if the G8 announce new measures to ensure implementation of the current HIPC deal, the countries which qualify for debt cancellation will get only one third of their debts cancelled, and will still spend more repaying debts than on healthcare and education. Under the current agreement the World Bank and the IMF would only cancel less than half the debts owed to them. Nigeria, Haiti, Bangladesh are all countries in need of urgent debt cancellation that will remain excluded.

Ann Pettifor, Director of Jubilee 2000 UK, said: "If the G8 fail to deliver a New Deal on Debt at the G8 Summit which starts tomorrow it will be an insult of historic proportions: to the African presidents who came to Tokyo, to Kofi Annan, The Pope, The Dalai Lama and other religious leaders who support Jubilee 2000; to the 19 million people who have signed Jubilee 2000‚s petition; and to the billion people who suffer from the consequences of debt."

Millions of people around the world are watching and waiting for the outcome this weekend. Their disappointment will quickly turn to anger if the G8 fail.

For more information please contact: Lucy Matthew on 090 7717 7701, Jamie Drummond on 090 7717 5674, Marlene Barrett on 090 7717 9840 or Sarah Finch in London on  44 7970 175324.

Notes to Editors:

1. The G8 travel to Okinawa having already agreed to cancel $100 billion of the debts of the poorest countries, including 100% of the debts owed bilaterally to G8 creditors. But so far only 9 countries have benefited from small reductions in debt service and since the agreements made last year, no country has actually had any debt cancelled.
2. Around the world millions of people are watching and waiting for the outcome of the Summit on www.summitwatch.net
3. The Debt Summit in Tokyo was attended by G8 leaders from the UK, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, and by President Obasanjo of Nigeria (chair of the G77, President Mbeki of South Africa (chair of the Non-Aligned Movement and President Bouteflika of Algeria (chair of the OAU).