Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

Jakarta - The Anti Debt Coalition (KAU) has called on the government to
capitalize on the summit which will take place near Lake Toya Hokaido,
Japan, on July 7-9, 2008 to ask for the writing off of Indonesia’s foreign
debt.

This had to be done by Indonesia on the ground that 91 percent of its
bilateral foreign debt which now stood at Rp258.96 trillion was to G-8
countries, KAU Chairman Dani Setiawan said here on Thursday.

The debt writting off was a form of responsibility of socio-economic crisis
confronting Indonesian people as a result of foreign loan transactions.

"The crisis is caused by practices of economic liberalization, privatization
and the lifting of subsidies recommended by creditor countries," Setiawan said.

According to KAU data on list of Indonesia’s foreign debt with G8 G8 Group composed of the most powerful countries of the planet: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the USA, with Russia a full member since June 2002. Their heads of state meet annually, usually in June or July. member
countries, Japan posed a bilateral creditor in Indonesia with its
outstanding debt totalling Rp186.38 trillion.

G8 member countries should be urged to write off Indonesian debt without any conditions to South countries including Indonesia. According to KAU , a commitment to give debt relief was made by G8 at their meeting in Birmingham in 1998.

In the meantime, President Yudhoyono would attend the G8 Outreach summit in Toyako, Hokkaido, Japan, July 8-10.

"The president is scheduled to be a lead speaker on the food security
issue," presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said.

Previously, Yudhoyono had sent a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda as chairman of the G8 summit calling for the G8 countries to discuss the food security issue at their meeting in Hokkaido.

“It should not only (discuss) climate change issues but also food security, and, thank God, (Yudhoyono’s) letter was well received,” Djalal said.

He said during the summit, the Indonesian president would call on key
countries to implement the Bali Road Map and encourage efforts to find a
global solution to the food crisis after the FAO summit in Rome.

Source : Antara News Agency, 04 July 2008

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