The proposal will cancel 100 per cent of the World Bank, African Development Bank and IMF debt, and calls on all countries to cancel their bilateral debt for the 18 immediately eligible countries have already met the full requirements of the highly indebted country process.

Debt cancellation must be effected. It's really obscene that poor countries become net exporters of capital due to debt.

In particular, sustained efforts to strengthen the public finances have contributed to improved macroeconomic stability and robust growth. Zambia's external position has strengthened in recent years and debt relief has greatly reduced Zambia's external debt burden.

This is some of the debts of some of the world's poorest countries. And we have been campaigning for that 100 percent to be 100 percent of all the debts of all the world's poorest countries.

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.

The world is so full of care and sorrow that it is a gracious debt we owe to one another to discover the bright crystals of delight hidden in somber circumstances and irksome tasks