CAIRO: The United States government on Wednesday called on the G8 to assist Egypt to convert the debts of the past into investments for the future. It comes as Egypt recently heightened international worries that its economic situation was facing a major crisis. Since the nationwide protest movement ousted President Hosni Mubarak's regime, the economic toll on the country has been great, but the US hopes the international community will step in to aid the country on its reconstruction phase. “The United States is committed to a debt swap for Egypt and we are asking our partners to join us in this initiative,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner said in a joint letter to their G8 counterparts. “A debt swap will enable Egypt to channel its debt payments toward underwriting swift, sustainable job creation,” they said. ” A shared response in the form of a multi-creditor debt swap for job creation would provide Egypt with financial relief while also ensuring that critical investments are made to improve the lives of Egyptian people.” In a major foreign policy speech last Thursday, US President Barack Obama said that it will be the policy of the US to promote reform across the Middle East and North Africa and support transitions to democracy. In the speech, he announced a set of initiatives in support of Egypt and Tunisia, including plan to ask the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to present a plan at the upcoming G8 summit for what needs to be done to stabilize and modernize the economies of Tunisia and Egypt, and relieving Egypt of up to 1 billion U.S. dollars in debt. The Group of Eight's industrialized economies — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States will meet through Thursday to Friday in Deauville, France. “We also should stand ready in the Paris Club to reinforce the forthcoming IMF package for Egypt. At the same time, we should collectively commit to helping newly democratic governments recover assets that were stolen,” Clinton and Geithner added in their letter. “As our nations gather at Deauville, we should consider several steps to support these goals. We share a compelling interest in seeing the transitions in Egypt and Tunisia succeed and become models for the region. Otherwise, we risk losing this moment of opportunity.” BM
