In 1999, HIPC Finance Ministers created a network, to provide them with a forum to express their views to the international community, on the progress and effectiveness of initiatives on debt relief, new financing and poverty reduction. It meets twice a year, usually in the second quarter (HIPC Ministers only) and at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings (with like-minded donor Ministers).

At the conclusion of each semi-annual meeting, HIPC Ministers release a declaration or press release highlighting their key concerns and requesting measures by the international community to match their own efforts at debt management and poverty reduction. The Washington meeting is followed by a press conference and by meetings with senior BWI officials to transmit HIPC views.

The 11^th meeting of the HIPC Finance Ministers was held in Maputo, Mozambique in March 2005. For the first time the meeting was co-sponsored with the Commonwealth Secretariat and AIF.

At this meeting HIPC Ministers:

• Encouraged other donor countries to support the UK government's initiative and finance their share of service to IDA, the AfDB/AfDF and IADB, through to 2015 and to use IMF gold reserves to fund relief on service to the IMF and other multilateral organisations.
• Repeated their demand to the international community for help to ward off lawsuits from a growing number of creditors and to create a 'rapid response' assistance mechanism.
• Welcomed the improvements in the BWIs' new long-term debt sustainability framework, while recommending greater ownership of the framework by debtor governments.
• Urged donors to accelerate independent (non-BWI) efforts to reinforce countries analytical capacities to achieve pro-poor growth, costing of achieving the MDGs and best practices in increasing absorption of additional aid flows.

For more details see the Maputo declaration .

For earlier declarations and press releases of the HIPC Ministerial Network, click here.

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