P.M. BRIEFING : Cancel Debts, EC Panel Suggests
The European Community Commission today proposed to cancel $4.3 billion in debt that 69 developing nations owe the European Community as a whole.
The debt, worth 3.1 billion European currency units, is owed by African, Caribbean and Pacific nations that have special trade ties with the EC.
EC Development Commissioner Manual Marin said his debt cancellation proposal “does not cover bilateral debt,” between the ACP and the 12 EC states but between the ACP nations and the community as a whole.
The ACP nations are mostly former European colonies. Their debt to the EC stems from special loans and risk capital the EC granted through trade and aid pacts the last 15 years.
Marin said his proposal for debt cancellation would be “a new political signal” of the community’s willingness to help some of the world’s poorest nations.
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