Reader's letter

The Jubilee 2000 campaign has thrust the problem of Third World debt on to the attention of public opinion and governments.

To its credit our Government has led the way with cancellations of debts, and Britain has written off 100 per cent of debt owed by the poorest countries (HIPCs).

However, debt owned to Britain is tiny when compared to the total amount, and the debt cancellation agreed at the G8 meeting in Cologne is only one third of the Jubilee 2000 target of £300 billion. Also Mozambique, an HIPC country, is only being given a year's moratorium on its debt.

In view of the country's floods last month, all of Mozambique's debts should be written off immediately. I understand that further debt reduction will not even be on the agenda of the July meeting of G8 countries in Japan. As a supporter of Jubilee 2000, I have written to my MP asking him to put a parliamentary question asking what the British Government is doing to ensure that debt cancellation is on the agenda in July.

It will be interesting to see whether our Government will 'put its money where its mouth is' regarding this important issue.

Margaret Vernon,

Kendal Close,

Dunnington,

York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.