DEBT RELIEF, A LEGACY OF HOPE FOR THE WORLD

VATICAN CITY, OCT 13, 1999 (VIS) - Archbishop Renato Martino, apostolic nuncio and Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations, spoke in New York on October 11 on Item 97E, External Debt Crisis and Development.

Referring to the imminent Jubilee Year 2000, the archbishop said that one of the important elements of the biblical Jubilee was the remission of debt. "Debts were remitted and burdens were lifted," he said, "so that the excluded could have the possibility of a new start." Today, as then, Archbishop Martino observed, "debt relief and the fight against poverty go together.

"Debt relief is urgent if the poorest countries are to make progress in their fight against poverty and exclusion. ... The situation in which debt repayments exceed the total national expenditure on education and health care combined is an unacceptable one."

The nuncio stated that the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) initiative "is a significant attempt to address simultaneously all the debt burdens of the poorest countries," but added that it "has so far moved forward too slowly."

"Pope John Paul II," he pointed out, "has consistently appealed for the largest possible number of countries to achieve the maximum benefit before the end of the year 2000. We all know this can be done."

Archbishop Martino suggested that "States and international financial institutions must find ways of encouraging the involvement of the citizens and the civil society of the poorer countries in 'ownership' of reform programs." And, he underlined, "a clear consensus should be elaborated which does not accept that countries entering into debt relief packages would at the same time indulge in disproportionate spending on arms."

The Jubilee Year 2000, concluded the nuncio, "stirs the hope that on this occasion, for once, the generations of today will be able to make this powerful gesture and may bequeath to the future a world with less poverty, a world with greater hope."

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