G8 Information Centre. Poverty and Debt Relief Initiative.
Action is needed.
However, the promise to increase the amount of debt relief offered to 100 percent made by the rich countries of the G7 at their summit in Cologne in 1999 has yet to be fully enacted. The current international system does not meet the scientific and technological needs of these countries, the minimal healthcare requirements taken for granted in the developed world, and the basic educational needs to sustain a viable social capital. As a result, the amount of poverty is rapidly increasing, widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Poverty and debt are inter-related, in that a heavy debt burden prevents states from developing stable social infrastructures conducive to economic growth and poverty relief. At the first meeting of the G20, in Berlin in 1999, the finance ministers and central bank governors addressed the issue of prudent debt management.