The government has pledged to provide greater debt relief for some of the world's poorest countries.

It was announced on Sunday that the UK will write off its share of World Bank and African Development Bank debt in order to assist key poverty-stricken states.

The additional support will be made available to low-income countries with public expenditure systems regarded as robust enough to ensure that the savings from will be used to help progress towards the millennium development goals.

Countries set to benefit from the move include Ethiopia, Ghana, Nicaragua, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Vietnam.

The costs of the move are to be met from increases in the Department for International Development's aid budget.

Speaking at a meeting in Brighton organised by the Trade Justice Movement, Gordon Brown said other countries should follow Britain's lead in funding write-offs with new money.

"Too many countries are still being forced to choose between servicing their debts and making the investments in health, education and infrastructure that would allow them to achieve the millennium development goals and so we must do more," said the chancellor.

"Although there is no international agreement on 100 per cent multilateral debt relief, Britain will do more.

"We will pay our share of the multilateral debt repayments of reforming low-income countries.

"We will make payments in their stead to the World Bank and African Development Bank for the portion that relates to Britain's share of this debt.

"We do this alone today but I urge other countries to follow so that over indebted countries are relieved of the burden of servicing all unpayable multilateral debt."

And international development secretary Hilary Benn said the UK was "giving a lead by paying our share of the multilateral debt service of low-income countries".

"We call on other governments, especially our G8 partners, to join us so that no country is held back by the burden of unsustainable debt," he added.
 
Responding to the announcement, debt campaigners claimed an "important victory" in their bid to cancel all the remaining debts of the world's poorest countries.

Peter Hardstaff of the World Development Movement said the government should be congratulated for its move.

"However by failing to cover IMF debts and not including may other desperately poor countries means that unless further action is taken this announcement does not represent a huge step forward.," he added.

"Firstly the chancellor must confirm that this is truly new money and not just a shuffling of the existing aid budget and he must commit to also fund cancellation of IMF debt if gold sales can't be agreed in the next few weeks.

"Most importantly he must drop the free market measures imposed as a condition of debt relief on developing countries. These conditions not only delay debt relief for months or even years but have been show to actually hurt developing countries and increase poverty."