Finance ministers from the world's wealthiest nations on Saturday tried to reach agreement on a historic plan to immediately wipe out US$40 billion worth of debt owed by the world's poorest nations. Britain and the United States want the Group of Eight countries to immediately cancel the debts owed by 18 of the world's poorest countries that have already met strict targets of good governance. A further 20 countries could eventually be eligible for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, leading to a total debt relief package of more than US$55 billion. "The ministers are continuing to discuss the proposal this morning," said Tony Fratto, spokesman for U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow. "We hope to achieve an agreement among the full G-8 ministers but we have not achieved that yet." Ministers from Britain, the United States, Italy, Germany, Russia, France, Canada and Japan are also expected to discuss other issues Saturday, including concerns about the effect of high oil prices _ they remain around 40 percent higher than a year ago _ on the global economy, the U.S. twin deficits and sluggish European growth. China's inclusion at a breakfast meeting will also provide an opportunity for U.S. and European ministers to press for the Chinese currency, the yuan, to be floated _ they claim it is overvalued, leading to floods of cheap imports. However, debt relief remains the main topic at the meeting, according to a report of the Associated Press.
