"Our country is making a considerable contribution in assisting the development of African states, including by way of easing their debt burden. It is possible that many simply forget about that," Alexander Yakovenko said in response to a question about Russia's position on the joint proposal made by the United States and Great Britain to industrialized nations to write off Africa's debts.
"In the past few years, Russia has written off or undertaken to write off the debts of some African countries worth more than $16 billion and this amount exceeds the contribution by some G8 member states," Yakovenko said.
Moscow supported an agreement on debt write-off reached at a recent meeting for G8 finance ministers in London.
"President Vladimir Putin has given instructions to the Russian Finance Ministry and other Russian departments to settle remaining issues," Yakovenko said.
