The idea that countries have an obligation to lend responsibly to developing nations received a boost this week with Norway’s offer to cancel up to Nkr2.9bn ($437m) in debts incurred as part of an ill-fated ship export campaign in the 1970s.

Erik Solheim, Norway’s development minister, said the ship export campaign was a “development failure” and declared: “As a creditor country, Norway has a shared responsibility for the debts that followed.”