Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 80: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the state of debt write off; if the agreed upon levels of debt cancellation are being met; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3929/07]

Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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The IMF and World Bank have made increasing efforts to tackle the problem of debt in developing countries since the launch of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in 1996. The HIPC Initiative, which was strengthened and enhanced in 1999, sought to reduce the debt burden of qualifying counties to sustainable levels but did not entail cancellation. Ireland contributed some €30m towards the costs of implementation of the Initiative. The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), agreed by the G8 Countries at Gleneagles in July 2005 and which came into effect on 1 July last year, goes further. It is a commitment to the cancellation of the multilateral debt owed to the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund of many of the poorest and most indebted countries in the World. Most of these countries are in Africa. For the first time, the most powerful countries acknowledged that many poor countries need 100% debt relief if they are to address the development needs of their people seriously. This is an important basis from which we can continue to work for a complete and sustainable solution to the debt problem facing poor countries.

The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative is separate from the earlier HIPC Initiative, but linked to it operationally. Under this new Initiative, cancellation of eligible debts is granted to countries which have completed the HIPC Initiative process, i.e. have already been judged as qualified to receive debt relief. From the information available to me, we can see that progress is slow but positive. As of January 2007, 31 countries (the latest being Sierra Leone) of the 40 defined heavily indebted poor countries had received debt relief under the HIPC Initiative amounting to US$35 billion. So far, 20 of these countries have also received MDRI debt relief from the IMF and World Bank, amounting to a further US$17 billion. The total cost of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative is estimated at US$62 billion in nominal terms. The IMF share of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative's costs will largely be met by own resources, as authorised by IMF Members including Ireland. Ireland's additional share of the costs of the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative amounts to €58.6m out of the approximately US$37 billion total cost of debt relief to be provided by the World Bank. As a gesture of support and to underline our strong commitment to 100% debt relief for the poorest countries, this amount has already been paid over in full.