A third crucial issue was debt relief for poor countries.

On the debt burden, we applaud debt relief for the highly indebted poor countries.

The initiative contemplated 40 billion of debt relief to 18 heavily indebted poor countries.

For centuries before this date, general poor relief had been financed and administered locally.

Greater efforts should also be made to provide debt relief to the heavily indebted poor countries.

We are pleased that Burundi has benefited from debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative.

Another important step forward was the finalization of the debt relief plan for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC).

The most important recent development in debt relief for LDCs is the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) debt initiative.

Medicines for the poor, food relief for those who are hungry, and peacekeepers for those who are facing civil war.

In that connection, Zimbabwe welcomed recent encouraging trends in international cooperation, especially the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Relief Initiative.

Even those that were eligible under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative had yet to receive any relief, and there was a fear that such relief might be too little, too late.

Fourthly, debt relief has been limited to those highly indebted poor countries which have satisfied International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions for disbursements.

We also need to move rapidly away from producing volumes of paper reports to providing relief or development assistance to the poor.

But such relief should be extended to include countries other than heavily indebted poor ones, as well as non African middle income countries.

In addition to favouring an increase in aid, Slovakia also supports further reform of trade relations as well as debt relief for poor countries.

To date, 27 heavily indebted poor countries have received debt relief, with 18 having reached the completion point and nine at the decision point.

89. The Age Care Association of the Gambia works with limited resources to assist in the provision of relief assistance to the elderly poor.

We congratulate the Group of Eight for the commitment adopted at the Gleneagles Summit, giving much needed debt relief to 18 heavily indebted poor countries.

However, poor countries could not tackle poverty alone, but required increased aid, debt relief, capacity building support and an equitable multilateral trading system to spur growth.

35. Mr. Tchoulkov (Russian Federation) said that his delegation shared the view that the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative played an important role in the international debt relief strategy, but believed that debt relief efforts should not be limited to that initiative.

While the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative has delivered tangible benefits to several African and least developed countries, many others in similar situations await some relief.

Debt relief for the countries of the region remains a major focus of our assistance to Africa, including through the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative.

Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC), 54 billion has so far been committed for debt relief to 27 countries that have reached decision or completion points.

I wish to highlight the serious debt relief measures that Slovakia took earlier this year, forgiving several hundred million dollars in debt owed by heavily indebted poor countries.

To that end, we support the continuation of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Debt Initiative and other relief measures, particularly those addressing the special needs of African countries.

Poor, poor Sylvester.

It was clear that the demand for new and additional financial resources under Agenda 21 could be met through the introduction of debt relief measures for the poor countries.

Poor little boy, poor little boy, poor little boy.

Relief

Relief

You poor, poor boy.

Poor Eliza Poor Eliza

My poor, poor brother.

You poor, poor boy.

You poor, poor lamb

Poor Whiskers, poor cat.

While some of our countries have benefited from debt relief strategies including the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative that has not as yet resulted in debt sustainability in the region.

Multilateral lenders have long understood the importance of debt relief to poverty reduction. Indeed, the joint IMF World Bank Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative was launched in 1996 to coordinate efforts by multilateral organizations and governments to reduce poor countries debt burdens to sustainable levels.

Facing poor road conditions, poor communication networks and the daunting challenge of feeding and sheltering thousands, these relief agencies are in dire need of more efficient means of reaching isolated areas and villages in the north eastern coastal towns of Somalia that are still partly submerged.

Oh, poor thing ! Poor thing !

We welcome the increase in debt relief, including debt cancellation, for many of the most highly indebted poor countries, as well as the renewed focus on Africa and on HIV AIDS.

Expresses its appreciation for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPCs) debt relief initiative and calls for its accelerated implementation in order to enable more eligible countries to benefit from the initiative.

33. As a result of an initiative at the Group of Seven Halifax summit, a new comprehensive framework had been established to provide debt relief for certain heavily indebted poor countries.

Emergency relief

Debt relief