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French President Jacques Chirac has pledged that his country will reduce by 40 percent the bilateral debt owed it by the West African nation of Mali, news organisations reported on Wednesday.
The pledged was made during a meeting between Chirac and the President of Mali, Amadou Toumani Toure, who is on his first official visit to France since his election in May.
With Mali's debt to France standing at some 200 million euros, the 40 percent cut would still leave 120 millions euros to be paid by the West African country to its former colonial ruler.
The debt relief is to take effect at the end of this year under the auspices of the IMF's Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, according to the BBC.
Mali, whose economy relies heavily on cotton farming, was ranked at 164 of 173 countries in the United Nations Development Programme's "Human Development Report 2002".
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