A/RES/67/198 External debt sustainability and development 17. Encourages donor countries to take steps to ensure that resources provided for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative do not detract from official development assistance resources intended to be available for developing countries; 18. Notes with concern that some low- and middle-income developing countries that are not part of the existing debt relief initiatives may have large debt burdens that may create constraints on mobilizing the resources needed to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, indicating a need to consider debt relief initiatives for those countries, as appropriate, and encourages the consideration of medium- and long-term sustainability as well as new approaches to deal with bilateral and private non-Paris Club debt; 19. Encourages the Paris Club, in dealing with the debt of low- and middleincome debtor countries that are not part of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, to take into account their medium-term debt sustainability in addition to their financing gaps, and notes with appreciation the Evian approach of the Paris Club in providing different terms of debt relief in order to respond to the specific needs of debtor countries while preserving debt cancellation for heavily indebted poor countries; 20. Stresses the need for the international community to remain vigilant in monitoring the debt situation of the least developed countries and to continue to take effective measures, preferably within existing frameworks, when applicable, to address the debt problem of those countries, including through the cancellation of the multilateral and bilateral debt owed by least developed countries to creditors, both public and private; 21. Welcomes the efforts of and calls upon the international community to continue to provide flexibility, and stresses the need to sustain those efforts in helping post-conflict developing countries, especially those that are heavily indebted and poor, to achieve initial reconstruction for economic and social development; 22. Also welcomes the efforts of and invites creditors to provide flexibility to developing countries affected by natural disasters so as to allow them to address their debt concerns, while taking into account their specific situations and needs; 23. Calls for the consideration of additional measures and initiatives aimed at ensuring long-term debt sustainability through increased grant-based and other forms of concessional financing, the cancellation of 100 per cent of the eligible official multilateral and bilateral debt of heavily indebted poor countries and, where appropriate and on a case-by-case basis, significant debt relief or restructuring for developing countries with an unsustainable debt burden that are not part of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative; 24. Invites donor countries, taking into account country-specific debt sustainability analyses, to continue their efforts to increase bilateral grants to developing countries, which could contribute to debt sustainability in the medium to long term, and recognizes the need for countries to be able to promote employment and productive investment and to invest in, inter alia, health and education while maintaining debt sustainability; 25. Calls for the intensification of efforts to prevent and mitigate the prevalence and cost of debt crises by enhancing international financial mechanisms for crisis prevention and resolution, encourages the private sector to cooperate in 6/8