Enhancing International Cooperation Towards a Durable Solution to the External Debt Problem of Developing Countries

A/RES/55/184No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 92cExternal debt crisis and development, published in 2001.

What other versions does this mandate have?

7 versions · 1996–2003

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/57/240

2003A/RES/57/240Enhancing international cooperation towards a durable solution to the external debt problem of developing countriesLatestCompare with previous version
2001A/RES/55/184Enhancing international cooperation towards a durable solution to the external debt problem of developing countriesCompare with previous version
2000A/RES/54/202Enhancing international cooperation towards a durable solution to the external debt problem of developing countriesCompare with previous version
1999A/RES/53/175Enhancing international cooperation towards a durable solution to the external debt problem of developing countriesCompare with previous version
1998A/RES/52/185Enhancing international cooperation towards a durable solution to the external debt problem of developing countriesCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

13 topics

Civil Society Debt Management Debt Relief Debt Servicing Developing Countries Development Assistance Disaster Relief Economic Growth External Debt Funds Governance Poverty Mitigation Resources Mobilization

What does this mandate say?

28 operative paragraphs

Recognizes that effective, equitable, development-oriented and durable solutions to the external debt and debt-service burdens of developing countries can contribute substantially to the strengthening of the global economy and to the efforts of developing countries to achieve sustained economic growth and sustainable development, in accordance with the relevant General Assembly resolutions and the results of recent global conferences;

Reaffirms the need, as expressed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration,2 for the international community to deal comprehensively and effectively with the debt problems of low- and middle-income developing countries, through various national and international measures designed to make their debt sustainable in the long term;

Calls for the full, speedy and effective implementation of the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, and, in this regard, stresses the need for the donor community to provide the additional resources necessary to fulfil the future financial requirements of the Initiative, hence welcomes the agreement that financing for heavily indebted poor countries should be reviewed analytically and separately from International Development Association replenishment requirements but back to back with meetings for the thirteenth replenishment of the Association, and calls upon all donors to participate fully in this process;

Calls upon the heavily indebted poor countries to take, as soon as possible, the policy measures necessary to become eligible for the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and to reach the decision point;

Reiterates its call upon industrialized countries, as expressed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration in the context of addressing the special needs of the least developed countries, to agree to cancel all bilateral official debts of the heavily indebted poor countries in return for their making demonstrable commitments to poverty reduction;

Stresses the importance of continuing to implement the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative flexibly, noting the provision of significant interim debt relief between the decision and completion points and taking due account of the policy performance of the countries concerned in a transparent manner and with the full involvement of the debtor countries, including for the setting of the floating completion point, and in this regard stresses the importance of country-owned poverty reduction strategy papers;

Also stresses the importance of continued flexibility with regard to the eligibility criteria for the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, in particular for countries in post-conflict situations;

Notes that it is important for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to continue their efforts to strengthen the transparency and integrity of debt sustainability analysis, and also notes the importance of cooperation with debtor countries in order to obtain relevant information;

Welcomes the framework for strengthening the link between debt relief and poverty eradication, and stresses the need for its continued flexible implementation, recognizing that, while the poverty reduction strategy papers should be in place by the decision point, on a transitional basis the decision point could be reached with agreement on an interim poverty reduction strategy paper, but that in all cases demonstrable progress in implementing a poverty reduction strategy would be required by the completion point;

Emphasizes that poverty reduction programmes as linked to the implementation of the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative must be country-driven and in accordance with the priorities and programmes of countries eligible under the Initiative, and stresses the importance of a participatory process that involves civil society in this regard;

Welcomes the decision of those countries that have cancelled bilateral official debt, and urges creditor countries that have not done so to consider the full cancellation and equivalent relief of the bilateral official debts of countries eligible under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and, as appropriate, action to address the needs of post-conflict countries, in particular those with protracted arrears, developing countries affected by serious natural disasters and poor countries with very low social and human development indicators, including the possibility of debt-relief measures, and stresses the importance of building coalitions with civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations in all countries to ensure in the shortest possible time the implementation of pronouncements of debt forgiveness;

Notes that the multilateral debt-relief funds can have a positive impact in assisting Governments in safeguarding or increasing expenditures on priority social sectors, and encourages donors and other countries in a position to do so to continue their efforts in this regard in the context of the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative;

Emphasizes the need to secure adequate funding for an overall financing plan for the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, including in particular the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Trust Fund and the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility/Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Trust Fund in the context of fair, equitable and transparent burden-sharing;

Stresses the principle that funding of any debt relief should not affect adversely the support for other development activities in favour of developing countries, including the level of funding for United Nations funds and programmes; welcomes, in this regard, the decision of the Joint Ministerial Committee of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on the Transfer of Real Resources to Developing Countries that financing of debt relief should not compromise the financing made available through concessional windows such as the International Development Association; and expresses its appreciation to those developed countries that have reached, gone beyond or recently made commitments towards reaching the agreed target for official development assistance of 0.7 per cent of their gross national product, and at the same time calls upon other developed countries to meet the target for official development assistance as soon as possible;

Expresses its appreciation for the action taken by creditor countries of the Paris Club with regard to the debts of developing countries that are affected by natural disasters, and, in this regard, reiterates the need for relief promises to be fulfilled within the shortest possible time frame in order to free the requisite resources for national reconstruction efforts;

Encourages the international creditor community to consider appropriate measures for countries with a very high level of debt overhang, including, in particular, the poorest African countries, in order to make an appropriate and consistent contribution to the common objective of debt sustainability;

Recognizes the difficulties of highly indebted middle-income developing countries and other highly indebted middle-income countries in meeting their external debt and debt-servicing obligations, and notes the serious situation in some of them in the context, inter alia, of significant liquidity constraints, which may require debt treatment, including, as appropriate, debt-reduction measures;

Calls for concerted national and international action to address effectively the debt problems of middle-income developing countries with a view to resolving their potential long-term debt-sustainability problems through various debt-treatment measures, including, as appropriate, existing orderly mechanisms for debt reduction, and encourages all creditors, both public and private, and debtor countries to utilize to the fullest extent possible, where appropriate, the mechanisms for debt reduction;

Recognizes the need for countries, even when experiencing a debt problem, to continue to work with creditors in order to facilitate continued access to international capital markets, and, in the event that extraordinary circumstances preclude a country from temporarily meeting its debt-servicing commitments, urges creditors and Governments to work together in a transparent and timely fashion towards an orderly and equitable resolution of the repayment problem, including consideration of temporary debt standstill arrangements in exceptional cases;

Notes the importance of an orderly, gradual and well-sequenced liberalization of capital accounts to strengthen the ability of countries to sustain its consequences so as to mitigate the adverse impact of the volatility of short-term capital flows;

Stresses that debt relief should contribute to development objectives, including poverty reduction, and in this regard urges countries to direct those resources freed through debt relief, in particular through debt cancellation and reduction, towards these objectives;

Notes that debt relief alone will not lead to poverty reduction and economic growth, and, in this regard, emphasizes the need for an enabling environment, including sound economic management as well as an efficient, transparent and accountable public service and administration, and stresses the need to mobilize financial resources from all sources, in addition to debt-relief measures and continued concessional financial assistance, in particular to the least developed countries, in order to support their efforts for achieving economic growth and sustainable development;

Underlines the absolute importance of implementing the resolve expressed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration to create an environment, at the national and global levels alike, that is conducive to development and to the elimination of poverty, inter alia, through good governance within each country as well as good governance at the international level and transparency in the financial, monetary and trading systems;

Stresses the need to strengthen the institutional capacity of developing countries in debt management, calls upon the international community to support the efforts made towards this end, and, in this regard, stresses the importance of initiatives such as the Debt Management and Financial Analysis System and the debt-management capacity-building programme;

Notes the importance of providing adequate resources for debt-relief measures in the light of the difficulties that many developing countries, especially those in Africa and the least developed countries, are facing with respect to mobilizing both domestic and external resources for their development, and, in accordance with the United Nations Millennium Declaration, calls for special measures to address the challenges of poverty eradication and sustainable development in Africa, including debt cancellation;

Stresses the importance for developing countries to continue their efforts to promote a favourable environment for attracting foreign investment, thereby promoting economic growth and sustainable development, so as to favour their exit from debt and debt-servicing problems, and also stresses the need for the international community to promote a conducive external environment through, inter alia, improved market access, efforts aimed at the stabilization of exchange rates and the effective stewardship of interest rates, increased resource flows, access to international financial markets, flow of financial resources and improved access to technology for developing countries;

Calls upon the international community, including the United Nations system, and invites the Bretton Woods institutions, as well as the private sector, to take appropriate measures and actions for the implementation of the commitments, agreements and decisions of the major United Nations conferences and summits on development organized since the beginning of the 1990s, as well as of the results of review processes, in particular those related to the question of the external debt problem of developing countries;

Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its fifty-sixth session on the implementation of the present resolution and to include in that report a comprehensive and substantive analysis of the external debt and debt-servicing problems of developing countries, including, inter alia, those resulting from global financial instability.

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