Africa calls upon G8 to cancel all debts

African leaders on Tuesday called upon the Group of Eight industrial nations to write off all debts owed by the continent.

The 53 member states of the African Union (AU) made the appeal at the end of a two-day summit held in the Libyan seaside city of Sirte, sending a strong message to the G8 one day ahead of the rich bloc's high-profile conference in Scotland.

Praising the G8 for a recent agreement to wipe off 40 billion US dollars' debt owed by 18 of the world's poorest countries including 14 from sub-Saharan Africa, African leaders called for complete debt relief to all African countries.

According to the most recent World Bank figures, Africa has 350 billion US dollars in external debt and pays over 12 billion US dollars a year on servicing.

Calling for a fair and equitable world trading system, the AU also urged developed countries to remove trade barriers and cancel agricultural subsidies and tariff in a bid to ease Africa's access to international markets.

Around 40 percent of Africa's total exports are agricultural produce but the continent has suffered fierce competition from wealthy nations which spend about 150 billion dollars a year to subsidize their farmers.

In addition, the AU called upon donor countries to fulfill their aid pledges and simplify and speed up the distribution of aid.

The AU's appeal came in agreement with a Britain-initiated plan to boost aid to Africa, which calls for an increase in aid to Africa, 100 percent debt write-offs and an end to rich country trade barriers and agricultural subsidies.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, currently chairing the G8 club, is expected to hard sell the aid plan at the coming G8 summit which gathers leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia.

Source: Xinhua