Neil Watkins Full Quotations

The IMF/World Bank must agree to full debt cancellation this weekend. But this will only be a first step towards our broader goal of expanding debt cancellation to all impoverished countries, without devastating economic conditions, in the months and years ahead.

As world leaders gather in New York, we are still decades away from meeting the modest Millennium Development Goals to halve extreme poverty. A critical tool for achieving these goals is debt cancellation. A recent study by U.K. charities found that at least 62 low-income nations would require full debt cancellation -- in addition to more aid and trade justice -- as a first step towards achieving the goals.