US Torpedoes G7 Agreement on Poor Aid

[ConcernedCanuk]

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US Torpedoes G7 Agreement on Poor Aid

Published on Saturday, February 5, 2005 by Agence France Presse

A US-Europe rift threatened to torpedo a British-led initiative to tackle global poverty as finance ministers from the Group of Seven rich nations began formally meeting here.

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US Undersecretary of the Treasury John Taylor said here Friday that the plan "doesn't work" for the United States.

US officials have cited legal problems in connection with the plan, known as the International Finance Facility (IFF), and have pointed to their own proposals for debt cancellation and the transformation of World Bank loans into grants.

/snip/

"You don't need everybody on board to launch the IFF," Benn told the BBC.

"One way or the other, what is inconceivable is that the world will come to Gleneagles ... without having found ways of raising the additional money that we know is needed to save children's lives and to give developing countries the helping hand they need as they help themselves out of poverty," he said.



OK -

Who's surprised ???

(ps: I know it's supposed to be just 4 paragraphs, but that last paragragh didn't make it clear who said what without that one-liner above it - sorry)

[fedsron2us]

1. Given the size of its current account and budget deficits

you would have thought that the US would have been all for the cancellation of debts.

[hector459]

2. Once again. Read "Confessions of An Econonic Hit Man" - Perkins

US will never be satisfied helping poor nations.