G-8 decision hailed

Former G-77 Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairman Tariq Sayeed has appreciated the decision of rich nations for scraping the loan of the poor countries, and hoped that after getting rid of this burden the least developed countries of the African region will cash this opportunity to improve their socio-economic conditions. Tariq Sayeed, who has also been FPCCI president, welcoming the decision of the G-8 meeting, said this relief to the poor African nations will help them in bringing down their level of poverty and hunger.
"It is an historical decision of the G-8 countries and reflects their commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals of UN in terms of poverty alleviation and improvement in living standards of poor segments of African Society", he said, and hoped that G-8 nations will also bring least developed countries of Asia under the similar fold to improve their socio-economic conditions too.
Sayeed, who is also a member of board of governors of Business Council for Non Aligned Movement, hoped that after the writing off the debt-burden amounting to $40 billion, these countries could be able to use this benefit in the development of their country through starting new developmental plans.
He said that the 18 African nations would benefit immediately namely Benin, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guyana, Hondoras, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
He said these nations were rated as the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). He anticipated that nine other countries would soon become eligible for 100 percent debt relief totalling as extra $11 billion over the next 12 to 18 months.
TariQ Sayeed appreciated the spirit of US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair which is reflective of their commitment for alleviating poverty, saying that the agreement of writing off of debt came as a result of meeting between these two leaders recently held in White House ahead of the G-8 meeting.
He congratulated the presidents and chairmen of National Chambers of Commerce and Industries of the countries for coming out of the heavy burden of debts.