As world leaders meet in Montreal to discuss short- and long-term relief efforts in Haiti, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) today wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urging him to push for debt relief in the region. Specifically Senator Gillibrand is advocating a debt moratorium on the part of the Inter-American Development Bank to whom Haiti owes approximately $447 million.
As we outline in our Haiti Debt Cancellation policy brief, the IADB is one of the key creditors to Haiti.
We’ll continue to follow these developments on the ONE Blog.
On Friday, eight US senators sent a letter to President Obama asking him to fund global AIDS programs in 2011 at levels consistent with the Lantos-Hyde HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria Reauthoration Act of 2008.
This is the concluding paragraph of the letter.
“America has, with bipartisan support from Congress, made tangible gains in saving lives in many impoverished countries and demonstrated our compassion to the world. This leadership must continue. As such, we urge you to support funding for global AIDS programs, including U.S. bilateral programs and the Global Fund, consistent with the Lantos-Hyde Act.”
It is signed by U.S. senators Boxer, Isakson, Casey, Lautenberg, Cardin, Durbin, Gillibrand and Kaufman. You can read the full letter here.
