G7 offers total debt relief for poorest countries: Brown

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said on Saturday in London that financial ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized countries have offered 100 percent debt relief for the poorest countries in the world.

"This is the first time as much as 100 percent debt relief has ever been detailed in a G7 communique," said the chancellor of Britain, the holder of the 2005 G7 presidency, told a press conference at the end of a two-day G7 meeting in London.

Describing the G7 meeting as "successful," Brown said the meeting should be remembered for debt relief and added that participants have also agreed on plans for countries hit hard by the December 26, 2004 killer tsunami and for third world debt relief.

During the meeting, Brown said, the finance ministers and central bankers from the G7 countries also called for more balanced global growth in which, he said, each continent must play a part.

"The United States has committed to fiscal consolidation, (and) Europe and Japan to structural reform," the G7 said in a statement issued on Saturday.