The Government agreed today to cancel NOK 69 million of Gambia’s debt to Norway.

The agreement with Gambia is based on a multilateral framework agreement concluded in the Paris Club, which is a joint forum for creditor countries, in January 2003. The Paris Club decided to grant debt relief to Gambia in accordance with the international Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, known as the HIPC initiative.

In keeping with the Norwegian debt plan, the debt will be cancelled without taking any funds from the budget. Thus, the debt relief will serve as a supplement rather than resulting in a reduction in other assistance to poor countries.

Gambia’s remaining debt to Norway will then be NOK 8 million. This will be cancelled when the country has met its HIPC requirements, probably before the end of 2004.