THE Debt and Development Coalition will today call on the EU finance ministers to do more to cut debts of developing countries.

The coalition is planning to hand in a statement to the ministers at Dublin Castle at lunchtime today.

Ms Jean Somers, co ordinator of the coalition, said the EU Ministers can exert considerable influence on the World Bank and IMF at their annual meeting in Washington on September 30th.

"We are urging them to use this influence to ensure we don't bring the debt crisis with us into the 21st century," she said.

The coalition is concerned that only $5.6 billion of debt relief will be provided under new proposals, against a total debt of $226 billion owed by the poorest countries.

It is also urging the finance ministers to sell some of the $35 billion the IMF holds in gold reserves to cancel debts owed to it by the poorest countries.

The coalition is also calling on debt relief to be linked to need rather than performance on "inappropriate" economic programmes.

The ministers will also be asked to provide adequate funding for the debt relief scheme. Creditors are being urged to contribute to the initiative in proportion to the share of the debt owed to them.