"Japan is a strong supporter of HIPC initiative"-Ambassador

The Japanese Ambassador, Mr Hiromu Nitta said on Friday that contrary to media reports his country is a strong supporter of the "Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) debt relief initiative and would not sanction Ghana if it opts for it.

He said as at last December, Japan had committed 3.8 billion dollars as relief to 22 countries under the HIPC initiative.

"This makes Japan the biggest contributor among the G8 nations", he told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra in reaction to media reports that his country was opposed to Ghana becoming a HIPC-member.

"Japan believes that it is up to the government of Ghana to decide whether to apply for debt relief or not, while taking into consideration all the merits and demerits of the initiative".

Mr Nitta said his country does not grant loan facilities to any country that accepts the HIPC concept since such a country is considered bankrupt and cannot pay for such financial assistance."

Instead my country offers HIPC member-countries more grants to make up for the withdrawal of the loans.

This is the official position of Japan which has been communicated to the government", he explained.

Mr Nitta said it is a complete misunderstanding that Japan would not extend any aid to Ghana, which is the largest recipient of Japanese aid in sub-Saharan Africa. "Japan has been the largest bilateral donor to Ghana since 1992.

Between 1994 and 1998 alone the country received a loan of 741.16 million dollars for the road, water and energy sectors of the economy".

Mr Nitta said his government is awaiting any decision the NPP will take on HIPC to know the action to take to support the decision.

President John Kufuor is reported to have said that a decision on the issue would be taken before the next budget.

The debate on whether Ghana should join HIPC or not has attracted both local and international reactions.

The British Secretary of State for International Development, Ms. Clare Short, contributing a paper on: "Eliminating world poverty: Making globalisation work for the poor" in Ghana, was recently quoted in the media as recommending the need for the country to join the initiative.

The white paper on international development committed the British government to the internationally agreed targets to reduce world poverty by poverty 2015.