Debt-ridden African nations Sunday defended China's growing power as an aid donor, saying the world's richest countries had moved too slowly to cancel debts and offer money to fight poverty, according to DPA. The 29 countries also urged Iraq, Libya and new European Union members to join debt-relief efforts and called for codes of conduct to keep creditors from selling poor-country debts in financial markets, a trend that has encouraged lawsuits by the new debt owners to recover their money. After talks in Washington, finance ministers of the heavily indebted countries expressed "disappointment that the international community is not delivering on the promises made in 2005 to increase aid flows," a reference to debt forgiveness promised by the Group of Eight leading industrial nations at a summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. In contrast, two leaders of the group portrayed China as a fresh, additional partner that can help them boost economic growth without gaining undue influence.
