An open letter to Gordon Brown

Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown, MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Treasury Chambers,
Parliament Street,
London, SW1P 3AG

6th June 2002

Dear Chancellor,

Debt Cancellation and the G8 Summit

As you prepare to go to the G7 Finance Ministers' Meeting in Canada next weekend I am writing this open letter to you on behalf of Jubilee Scotland to urge you to do everything in your power to achieve fuller debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries.

In Jubilee Scotland we have appreciated the lead you have taken on the debt issue. We are concerned, however, that since the Genoa G8 Summit last summer you and your colleagues have seemed keen to move your focus on to issues of global health funding, primary education and the Millennium Development Goals, none of which can be really effective without prior debt cancellation.

We want you to know that support for debt cancellation is still strong in Scotland, as it is throughout the United Kingdom. In the Scottish Parliament last year a motion calling for deeper debt cancellation was signed by two thirds of the eligible MSPs, while more recently at Westminster over half the members of the House of Commons have signed an early day motion on debt.

We would remind you of the following important factors:
· that countries completing the Highly Indebted Poor Countries programme (HIPC), will be very vulnerable to future economic downturns
· that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have admitted that HIPC is failing to deliver its aim of debt sustainability
· that the African leaders invited to the G8 Summit have already made it clear that debt cancellation must be a primary ingredient of the New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD)
· that Canada, host of this year's G8 Summit, has called for a review of HIPC
· that the US Congress is debating a Bill on greater debt cancellation

We believe that the political climate has never been more favourable to real debt remission and that this year's G8 Summit in Kananaskis presents a significant opportunity. At the same time we know that nothing of importance will be announced there unless it has first been worked on by the meeting of the Finance Ministers, which you are about to attend. We therefore urge you to give debt a high priority and to do your best to get a real breakthrough on it this time.

With best wishes,
John Harris