Bono Meets French Prime Minister Ahead of Genoa Summit

18 Jul 2001
Ahead of U2's two shows in Paris, Bono visited the French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to discuss continuing efforts to cancel the debts of the world's poorest countries.



Bono thanked French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin for his country's efforts to write off the debt of the world's poorest countries.



"The fact that France is the country in the world which has done most to write off the debt is not very well-known," Bono said, when arriving at Jospin's office. "I have come to thank the prime minister, but also the president (Jacques Chirac), who have helped us a lot and all those who are involved in these activities."



France has written off the debt of 34 of the world's 41 poorest countries and Bono said he was now asking for extra French help "to finish what we have started."



This weekend the leaders of the richest countries, the G8, meet in the northwestern Italian port city of Genoa and campaigners have been working to persuade them to increase their efforts to get the poorest countries' debts written off tnd allow them to benefit from globalisation.



Keep up to date with G8 Summit developments on the debt-crisis by visiting dropthedebt.org

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