Japan on Friday signed an agreement with Ethiopia to canceled 100 percent of the country's outstanding debt amounting to 14.4 million U.S. dollars.

Under the agreement signed by Ethiopian Finance Minister Sufian Ahmed and Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia Kenjiro Izumi, the debt cancellation was made as per the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.

The agreement said Ethiopia would use the saving drawn from the debt relief to finance projects related to poverty reduction programs in the country.

As the debt cancellation is for all the remaining commercial debts, Japan completes the cancellation of all Ethiopia's debts to Japan, said the Japanese embassy.

Source: Xinhua