Commonwealth Secretariat
  1. Home
  2. What's New
  3. Who We Are
  4. What We Do
    1. Democracy
    2. Economics
    3. Education
    4. Gender
    5. Governance
    6. Health
    7. Human Rights
    8. Law
    9. Small States
    10. Sport
    11. Sustainability
    12. Youth
    13. Millennium Development Goals
    14. Funding
  5. News
    1. Events
    2. News Archive Search
    3. Picture Stories
  6. Media Room
    1. Press Archive Search
    2. Media Contacts
    3. CommonwealthTV
    4. Podcast: Pick of the Commonwealth
    5. Events
    6. In the Media
    7. Updates
    8. Downloads
  7. Resources
    1. Documents
    2. Image Library
    3. Libary & Archives
    4. Publications
  8. Publications
  9. Employment
  10. FAQs
    1. Acronyms
  11. Contact Us
Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth urges G-7 to take action on

27 June 1996

The Commonwealth has called on G-7 leaders, meeting in Lyon today and tomorrow for their annual summit, to make "decisive progress" in resolving the problem of unsustainable multilateral debt in developing countries.

In a letter to the meeting's Chairman, President Chirac of France, Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku said that considerable progress had been made since the last G-7 summit in Halifax in persuading international financial institutions that urgent action was needed in tackling the problem of multilateral debt. He said the G-7 group had contributed much to this effort and it was therefore essential that the group continued to provide firm leadership to the international community, especially in the final stages of designing a programme of action.

The Secretary-General said Commonwealth countries, including G-7 members Britain and Canada, had strongly supported the need for a comprehensive solution. He listed five main areas in which present proposals could be strengthened.

These were: that the year 2000 be set as the deadline for as many eligible countries as possible to escape unsustainable debt levels; that action by multilateral creditors - the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank - to make substantial contributions from their resources be carefully co-ordinated; that the reduction of bilateral debt should not be made a condition for delaying action by the international financial institutions; that the criteria for eligibility be sufficiently wide to include all poor developing countries; and that the debtor countries be fully involved in the process of drawing up the programme of action.

Chief Anyaoku said: "I have been heartened to hear today from Prime Minister John Major of his intention to press for many of these concerns at Lyon. We will not tackle the problem of development nor achieve sustained worldwide growth without addressing the crippling burden of debt carried by many developing countries. Let the G-7 at Lyon provide a decisive lead on this crucial global issue."

The Commonwealth is an organisation of 53 countries from each region of the world. More than half its members are developing countries.

Issued by the Information and Public Affairs Division, Commonwealth Secretariat,
Marlborough House,
Pall Mall,
London SW1Y 5HX,
United Kingdom.
Tel: 0207-839 3411;
Fax: 0207-839 9081;
Telex: 27678

96/29 27 June 1996

Share this page
About this

ISSUED BY THE COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIVISION
Commonwealth Secretariat Marlborough House Pall Mall London SW1Y 5HX United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7747 6385/6 Fax: +44 (0)20 7839 9081
Email: info@commonwealth.int