France projects to write off debt of 15 African countries

French president, Jacques Chirac, announced here Friday after the closing of the 21 st Africa-France summit, that his country is planning to write off 10 billion Euro of bilateral debts owned by poorest countries.

The French president, who held a joint press conference with the summit host, Cameroon's president Paul Biya, said his country had made the proposal during the 1996 G7 meeting in Lyon and hoped that the Bretton Woods institutions would take similar measure to alleviate indebtedness that cripples development efforts of these countries. He recalled that France is the world 2 nd largest aid-to-development provider after Japan.

In 15 years, we want to reduce by half poverty in Africa and reach a growth rate of 7%, he went on.

Of the summit theme "Globalization in Africa," Chirac who stressed globalization is unavoidable warned against hazards of the continent exclusion and edging out and against a sweeping globalization that would make the rich richer and the poor poorer. He added threats against the eco-system and development of international criminality are other risks that should be heeded