1. Completion of debt cancellation process for qualifying countries by the end of year 2000.
2. Countries qualify for debt cancellation by preparing a medium term Social Action Strategy, to address the urgent human needs in the debtor societies. These national strategies will made by the countries themselves. They will be prepared in consultation with the World Bank, regional institutions, and relevant U.N. agencies, such as the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the United Nations Development Program. The creditors, together with indebted country, will review and discuss the Social Action Strategies, and approve them as suitably modified.
3. National strategies will be constructed in the context of dialogue with civil society, in a transparent, democratic and participatory manner. Both creditor and debtor governments will devise joint mechanisms to eliminate corruption as a key part in the formulation of the strategies. The major creditors will require these as minimum conditions for debt cancellation.
4. The Social Action Strategies will set out measures to address the urgent human needs in the debtor societies, and establish agreed monitoring mechanisms that are verifiable both domestically and internationally. These will include intermediate targets and fiscal commitments for the use of the funds released from debt service payments.
5. Debt cancellation will be based on social needs, as judged by urgent social conditions, the ambition of the Social Action Strategy, and the debtor country’s fiscal position. All references to debt-export targets will be dropped.
6. For the poor countries with demonstrable need, especially post-conflict countries, 100 percent cancellation of bilateral debts, ESAF debt, as well as non-concessional World Bank and other multilateral loans is envisaged, if backed by a suitable Social Action Strategy.
7. Funding for debt cancellation will come from donor governments in the case of bilateral debts; gold revaluations and loan loss reserve accounts in the case of the IMF; and loan loss reserve accounts in the case of the World Bank. In any case, in the context of unprecedented prosperity in the industrialized countries, funding concerns should not be used as a barrier to necessary debt cancellation.
8. All bilateral donors will strive to maintain, indeed increase, in real terms, their contributions in grants and highly concessional loans to the highly indebted poor countries. Debt cancellation will not be taken as an opportunity for reduced future flows of concessional aid.
9. The debtor countries will strive to maintain a stable macroeconomic environment. The Extended Structural Adjustment Facility of the IMF will not, however, be a prerequisite for qualification or implementation of debt cancellation.
10. Leaders representing the highly indebted poor countries will meet together with the leaders of the G-7 nations before the beginning of the new year (and the new millennium), to cancel debts and confirm their support for these principles.

These principles were agreed at a conference convened by the Global Coalition on Africa and the Harvard University Center for International Development.