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At the launch of the new millennium in 2000, the United Nations General Assemby made a commitment to eradicate poverty, promote human dignity and equality and achieve peace, democracy and environmental sustainability. Five years on, the September Summit will review progress by World Leaders, including our own Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in implementing these 8 Goals.

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Millennium Summit September 2005
Submission to DCI on Debt and the MDGs
From Debt and Development Coalition Ireland

The Secretary General's Report contains the following statement on debt 'we should redefine debt sustainability as the level of debt that allows a country to achieve the MDGs and reach 2015 without an increase in debt ratios. For most HIPC countries, this will require exclusively grant based finance and 100% debt cancellation, while for many heavily indebted non-HIPC and middle income countries, it will require significantly more debt reduction than has yet been on offer'.

This statement both

a) overlaps with the current Irish debt policy in calling for debt sustainability to be defined in terms of human development and specifically linking debt reduction to achievement of the MDGs calling for 100% cancellation for HIPCs (most HIPCs in the case of the Secretary General, all in the case of the Irish debt policy)and

b) goes beyond Ireland's debt policy in calling for significantly greater debt reduction for other low income countries and many middle income countries.

An implication of the Secretary General's statement is that there is a need for a fair and independent process:

a) to assess how much debt cancellation is required by countries beyond those considered to need 100% cancellation

b) to ensure that human development/meeting the MDGs is central to such assessments

In the context of the September Summit Ireland should seek to support the Secretary General's position on debt ensure that there is international agreement that debt will not hinder achievement of the MDGs

Points for the Taoiseach's speech:

Ireland's support for cancellation of debt which is hindering human development using the MDGs as a bench mark in determining this
That all multilateral debt must be included in any multilateral debt scheme,
Financing for debt cancellation must be additional. All un-used/underused international resources must be mobilised, e.g. IMF gold
Rich countries should cover their share of any shortfall in funding for debt cancellation
The need for a fair and independent procedure to make decisions on dealing with unpayable debt.

May 2005


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