A poor country cannot renounce social progress because it lacks the capacity to reimburse loans. In addition, for the highly indebted poor countries, development banks, and IDA in particular, should be able to provide grant funding for the basic social sectors. We must also assure the accelerated implementation of the debt initiative, in particular the earmarking of the funds thus freed up to poverty reduction measures. France, which contributes up to 10 billion euros bilaterally, will provide technical assistance to countries which have not yet reached the famous decision point. This, in turn, will save time in getting these new resources used sooner in the fight against poverty.
Health is a fundamental public good.
In helping others, we help ourselves. The UN Secretary General recently defined an amount in the same order of magnitude. In France, we are soon to propose to Parliament a special fiscal incentive program to encourage companies to do research on diseases most seriously affecting poor countries. The economy and technology should be put at the service of future generations, rather than left free to function, impervious to air, water, the ecosystem. We will fully support, within the European Union, further pursuit of the Kyoto process.