Washington: The US on Wednesday welcomed the Paris Club's decision to cancel more than USD 1 billion in debt owed by Aghanistan, saying it reflects the global community's acknowledgement of the progress Kabul has made in strengthening its economy.
Founded in 1956, the Paris Club is an informal group of official creditors whose role is to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to payment difficulties of debtor countries.
The Paris Club had on Tuesday decided to cancel more than USD 1 billion in debt owed by Aghanistan.
"The decision represents an important achievement for Afghanistan and reflects the international community's acknowledgement of the progress the country has made in strengthening its economy," said Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal S Wolin.
"Lifting the debt burden inherited by the Afghan government marks a crucial step on Afghanistan's road to economic sustainability," he said.
The accord reached will implement Afghanistan's completion point treatment under the Enhanced Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC).
Completion point is the final step of the HIPC Initiative, at which the international community provides full debt reduction for a debtor country that has established a track record of good performance under programs designed to achieve economic growth and poverty reduction.
"The accord also recognised Afghanistan's performance under its IMF program and its progress on adopting and implementing economic reforms in a tremendously challenging environment," said Mark Toner, Acting Deputy Spokesman of the State Department.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, March 18, 2010, 12:22