Bulgaria’s Cabinet has decided to write off the debt owed to it by Libya to enable the equivalent sum of money to benefit the Benghazi International Fund.

The fund was set up to aid HIV-positive children in Libya allegedly infected by six Bulgarian medics.

Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin said that Libya’s debt to Bulgaria added up to $22 359 493 and the interest for the period from 1984 to 2006 was $36 275 880. Libya had confirmed the volume of its debt but did not agree with the calculation of the interest, he said.

Writing off Libya’s debt was the best way for Bulgaria to make a contribution to the fund, Kalfin said, as quoted by Focus news agency.

The fund accumulated 130 500 000 euro up to May 10 2007. So far, Bulgaria has refused to make direct payments to the fund.

Seif Al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddaffi, and Al-Islam’s foundation, had given Bulgaria a great deal of help to enable a positive outcome of the case of the six Bulgarian medics sentenced to life in jail after Libyan courts found them guilty of the deliberate HIV infection, Kalfin said.