Report: Controversy concerning African debts at African - European summit

Leaders at the Africa - Europe summit concluded yesterday evening the first work session which was opened by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday afternoon.

Egypt's delegation to this session was headed by President Mubarak, while the session was headed by Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, whose country heads the current session of the Organization of African Unity, as well as Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, whose country is the current head of the European Union.

During the session, some economic issues and issues of joint concern were addressed, including the African demand to cancel or decrease the debts owed by Africa, encouraging European investments for African countries and increasing the volume of commercial exchange between the two sides.

Some European and African leaders delivered addresses during the sessions that focus on the importance of cooperation between the two continents to solve the problems confronting Africa.

French President Jacques Chirac raised many questions in his speech on African integration in the international economy and the problem of debts, saying that in light of the globalization problem, "can we refuse its dynamism and how we treat the debts problem in all these causes," saying that the African debts increased in 1998 to $310 billion and are considered a main obstacle in front of Africa.

France also sees the debts as a main obstacle in front of Africa's integration into the international economy, saying these debts must be approached from multiple angles. "I would like to refer that France canceled during the last 15 years more than $23 billion of the debts in Africa," Chirac said, declaring that his country will decrease the debts of the most poor African countries by 90% within 3 years, calling the other countries to do the same thing as France.

Javier Solana, delegate of the European Union for foreign affairs and security, referred in his speech that the African- European summit forms a new step in the relations between the European Union and Africa in addition to the current mechanisms for regional cooperation through the Lome agreement and Barcelona operation.

King Mohammed VI of Morocco declared the cancellation of all debts owed to his country to the least developed African countries and lifted the Moroccan customs barriers on goods imported from these countries.

King Mohammed called for launching a final and comprehensive war against poverty and to combine the African, European and international efforts, urging the donor states to find better solutions for the problem of the debts, whether by canceling them or turning the loans' interest into investments.