7 finance ministers recently met to discuss debt reduction and increased development aid but ended up in total disagreement. He said the United States and Britain disagreed with each other's plan. Canada disagreed with both those countries. France and Japan submitted ways to raise money for debt relief and foreign aid, but their proposals were rejected by other G-7 members. "It was a potpourri of good intentions gone wrong," Lewis said. He said G-7 members have reduced bilateral debt in part or in whole to African nations, but disagreement emerged when it comes to debt held by the Bretton Woods institutions - the World Bank and International Monetary Fund - and the African Development Bank. He said proposals to reduce or cancel debt held by Bretton Woods institutions had unacceptable conditions to the debtors or were opposed by some of the G-7 members. Some G-7 members proposed selling gold to cover the costs of debt relief, but Canada and some other countries were opposed. France and Japan called for taxes on international financial transactions and airline travel, but other G-7 members were frigid about the proposal. "To make poverty history requires making AIDS history," Lewis added. "To achieve both means that the Western world, the G-7 in particular, must deliver on the host of commitments they have made." ---SP 2346 Local Time 2046 GMT
