DEBT REMISSION MUST BE EXTENDED TO 38 POOR COUNTRIES

VATICAN CITY, JUL 2, 2005 (VIS) - Yesterday in New York, U.S.A., Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Holy See permanent observer to the United Nations, delivered a speech before the substantive session of the U.N. Economic and Social Council.

  "The Holy See," said Archbishop Migliore, "is pleased to associate itself with those who support the accord reached in London recently by the G8 finance ministers to cancel the debts of 18 heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC). Debt remission measures, he added, "are just the start of that path, first of all because the measure in question needs to be extended to some 38 HIPC countries."

  "The G8 leaders, meeting at Gleneagles, Scotland, on July 6-8 next, must now pay attention to the demands of their own people and of civil society, and place before their respective legislatures bills that will lead to the immediate fulfillment of the accord's promises."

  In concluding remarks, Holy See permanent observer referred to development funding, specifically highlighting  the "lack of financing for basic scientific research and for the industrial development of pharmaceutical products to combat the major tropical diseases such as malaria, as well as the lack of research in favor of agriculture in poorer regions."
DELSS/DEBT:FINANCING/MIGLIORE                    VIS 20050704 (210)