DEBT RECYCLING
AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES:
A Tunisian initiative to reduce the
gap between the North and the South
Tunisia's
humanitarian actions, and its initiatives in the field of
international relations are not confined to political aspects,
but encompass also economic and social dimensions.
President
Ben Ali's call for the establishment of a World Solidarity
Fund, and the adoption of this proposal by the UN General
Assembly, are perhaps the crowning step of the economic
and social initiatives launched by President Ben Ali.
The approaches
of President of the Republic seek not only to find solutions
to pending problems, but also to propose practical and concrete
solutions to a good number of problems that preoccupy states,
particularly the developing countries.
One of
these problems is the question of debts that, in certain
countries, have become so high that these countries have
become totally unable to pay them back in due time.
In view
of the grave economic and social repercussions of this problem
and its impact on the balances of the countries overburdened
with debts, President Ben Ali took the initiative to call
for the recycling of the debts of developing countries,
in order to preserve the interests of all parties and avoid
any unpredictable complications.
This initiative
rests on the idea of recycling the debts of developing countries
and of using the resources coming from this recycling in
financing the projects agreed upon by all parties, on the
basis of precise rules and criteria.
Many states
have commended this avant-garde initiative launched by President
Ben Ali from the rostrum of the European Parliament in Strasburg
in 1993.
The initiative
was launched in Europe, given the economic position of this
continent and its important role in the exchanges with African
and Asian countries which are most affected by the problem
of debt.
Tunisia's
efforts to promote this initiative have particularly intensified
during the first European-African Summit held in Cairo in
2000, with the participation of more than 67 African and
European countries. The participation of President Ben Ali
in this Summit was so remarkable, for the problems of the
alleviation of debts and the fight against poverty and exclusion
in the African continent were at the heart of all the debates
held during this Summit.
The soundness
and pertinence of the Tunisian approach in this field have
been illustrated through the decisions and measures announced
by a good number of European countries at the end of the
Summit. Germany, for instance, decided to cancel 350 millions
dollars of bilateral debts, which benefited 30 of the poorest
countries of the world.
On the
other hand, Tunisia took the initiative to organize an international
conference, in collaboration with the World Bank and the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on "foreign
debts and economic development".
During
this conference, which witnessed the participation of representatives
from 24 African countries, emphasis was laid on the role
of the foreign debt, in poor countries, in increasing poverty,
misery and exclusion. The conference called for the alleviation
of the debt burden, by reinforcing international solidarity
and establishing appropriate mechanisms such as debt recycling,
the World Solidarity Fund and other economic and humanitarian
mechanisms.
