G8 leaders divided over Iraq debt

The G-8 leaders, meeting in Sea Island, in the US state of 
Georgia last week came to an impasse over many issues, including 
Iraq's debt.

The leaders at the meeting of the eight industrialised countries 
(G-8) were divided over the issue of Iraq's debt, with European 
states resisting US calls to quickly forgive almost all of it.

A French official told reporters that the G-8 had agreed to 
forgive a "substantial" part of Iraq's US$120 billion debt but 
had not set a precise figure.

The United States has called for up to 90 percent of Iraq's debt 
to be cancelled while countries such as France, Russia and Canada 
are unwilling to go so far.

The official said no precise percentage was included in the draft 
declaration expected to be adopted by the G-8 leaders of Britain, 
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United 
States.

A Russian official also said the United States was pressing the 
G-8 to cancel "a maximum of the debt by the end of 2004" to help 
the war-ravaged country get back on its feet, but not all 
countries agreed.

Moscow, which is owed US$8.5 billion in Iraq's debt, prefers "a 
more-open formula" for dealing with the debt, the Russian 
official said.

He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to cancel 
65 percent of the Iraqi debt and is also linking the move to the 
ability of his country's businesses to operate in Iraq.

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Xinhua