Accra (Greater Accra), 17 March ?99 ?

President Jerry John Rawlings today welcomed the American call for a substantial cut in developing countries' debt and said it is a step in the right direction.

He said if the call by United States President Bill Clinton is heeded to, developing countries would have a breather to deal with some of their most pressing needs to avert degeneration.

President Rawlings said this when a delegation from Soka Gakkai International (SGI), a Japanese non-governmental governmental organisation, called on him at the Castle, Osu. The delegation led by Dr Masami Kita, Deputy Vice- President of SGI, is in the country to represent the President of SGI, Dr Saikaku Ikeda at a ceremony at the University of Ghana, Legon where he would be presented with the keys of the University.

Dr Ikeda, who is a recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from Legon, is being honoured for his immense material support for the university. President Rawlings said as a result of debt servicing, developing countries have little left for development, thus sowing seeds for conflict which ultimately retard growth. President Rawlings was grateful to the SGI for the help it has been giving the country over the years and added ''we should sustain it''. Dr Kita said Soka University appreciated President Rawlings's visit to the university when he was in Japan in 1997 on an official visit. ''We were highly honoured to have conferred an honourary degree on the President''.