The United States on Sunday applauded the decision by the Paris Club on slashing Iraq's debts and urged other countries to follow suit.

US President George W. Bush made the statement during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum held in the Chilean capital, praising the deal as a major boost for Iraq.

"The Iraqi people have an historic opportunity to build a free and democratic Iraq after more than two decades of political oppression and economic devastation under the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein,'' Bush said in a statement.

"The Paris Club agreement represents a major international contribution to Iraq's continued political and economic reconstruction. I encourage non-Paris Club creditor nations to agree to comparable debt reduction for Iraq," he said.

The Paris Club's 19 members reached an agreement to unconditionally reduce 80 percent of Iraq's debts worth of 33 billion US dollars in total, club president Jean-Pierre Jouyet told a news conference on Sunday evening in Paris.

The statistics released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)showed Iraq's foreign debts have swollen to around 120 billion dollars, 42 billion of which was owed to Paris Club countries.

The club was established in 1961 for coordinating the financial policy and credit issues between developing and developed countries. It now groups America, Britain, France, Germany, Italy,Japan, Holland, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Australia, Norway, Finland, Spain, Ireland and Russia.

Source: Xinhua