Commonwealth says G8 must keep promises to poor

COLOMBO, Sep 12 (Reuters) The Commonwealth group of countries began a three-day finance ministers meeting in Sri Lanka today with a call for rich nations to keep their promises over debt relief and aid to the poor.

Don McKinnon, secretary-general of the 53-nation group, said the Group of Eight leading industrialised nations had not yet delivered on a pledge, made at Gleaneagles in Scotland last year, to double aid to the world's poorest countries and speed up debt write-offs.

He said finance ministers from the Commonwealth, which represents two billion people or 30 percent of the world's population, would remind them of that at the upcoming International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Singapore.

''I am particularly concerned to avoid what I see as paying once and claiming credit twice, where donors' debt reduction payments are claimed as aid flows when they should be additional to those flows,'' he told delegates at the opening ceremony.

''Although the headline figures for aid in 2005 will show a sharp rise, this is due to exceptional amounts of debt relief to a few countries. The underlying trend is well short of what is needed to meet that Gleneagles pledge,'' he added.

The Commonwealth played a leading role in launching debt relief initiatives in the 1980s and 1990s, resulting in more than 0 billion of debt being cancelled for 30 countries, he said, calling on this year's meeting to trigger similar results.

''Developing countries have their own commitments to keep as well,'' he said. ''One of the most important of course is to improve governance and tackle corruption -- absolutely essential elements for successful development.'' This week's meeting also gives finance ministers a forum to develop common positions ahead of the IMF/World Bank meeting, officials said, and efforts to boost employment, reduce poverty and cope with higher oil prices would also be discussed.

McKinnon said most countries were likely to miss Millennium Development Goals to halve poverty by 2015.

He also rued the suspension and apparent failure of the Doha round of global trade talks.

''We face a real risk of the unravelling of global trade agreements with a proliferation of bilateral and regional deals that we can be sure will not be to the advantage of smaller or the poorer nations,'' he told delegates.

''I hope that you do have some discussion on this subject and take forward ideas of what the Commonwealth can do when you meet your many non-Commonwealth colleagues in Singapore.'' SKILLS DRAIN The Commonwealth is also wrestling with its own problems, in particular a hemorrhaging of trained teachers, doctors and nurses from poor states to richer ones like Britain, Canada and Australia.

''You can't stop individuals wanting to improve their circumstances, but what we are really concerned about is the heavy raiding by developed countries of teachers and nurses,'' McKinnon told an earlier news conference.

This year's meeting in Colombo has been partly overshadowed by a escalation of fighting in Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war. A car bomb exploded last month just a few hundred metres from the hotel where the meeting is being held.

Finance ministers from most countries, including Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Nigeria and South Africa have stayed away, sending deputies or lower ranking officials in their place.

Reuters SAM DB2034