ABUJA, Oct 11 (AFP) - A visiting Japanese trade delegation Monday told Nigerian authorities that it was "immoral" for the west African nation to request debt cancellation. "It is not morally right to ask for debt cancellation," the leader of the 30-man delegation, Noboru Hatakeyama, told Nigerian Finance Minister Adamu Ciroma during a meeting. "As you called for a new era of morality in the administration of your economy, the same moral consideration should be applied to your debt issue," he said. Hatakeyama said that by all accounts, Nigeria, the seventh largest oil producer, is not a poor country, and consequently, should not ask for debt cancellation. Nigeria's external debt is about 30 billion dollars. Ciroma had argued that Nigeria was a developing nation and that there should be a way for foreign creditors to lessen its burden. "If you don't want to cancel the debt, you could spread the payment without increasing the debt profile. In the past, there were negotiations but which increased our debts and increased our pain rather than solving our problems," the minister said. The delegation comprises businessmen and experts in trade, engineering, metals production, manufacturing and construction, government officials and officials of the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation. The team, which is on a three-day visit, arrived in Nigeria Sunday. ********** e-mail: [log in to unmask] URL: http://home3.inet.tele.dk/mcamara ****************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------