 About $2 billion of Mali's foreign debt was written off, such that the total government debt declined from 49% of the Malian gross domestic product in 2005 to 20% in 2006.Annual external debt service payments fell from 3.1% of GDP in 1987 and 3.0% in 1997 to 1.3% in 2006.Canada's involvement from 1977 to 1996 in Senegal's and Mali's rail transport sectors via CANAC Consultants Ltd. and CANARAIL was described in a 1999 review by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) as aiming "to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of railway operations in Mali.