Paris Club chief in Cuba to expedite debt negotiations

Paris Club chief in Cuba to expedite debt negotiations
BY DANIEL TROTTA
HAVANA Fri Mar 6, 2015 9:13pm EST

(Reuters) - The chief of the Paris Club of wealthy creditor nations met
Cuban finance officials on Friday in what he believed was an
unprecedented official visit to Havana to discuss the Communist-led
country's debt.

After previous negotiations had stalled in 2000, Cuba and the Paris Club
have moved swiftly in the past year toward negotiations over a total
debt that Paris Club President Bruno Bezard estimated at $15 billion to
$16 billion, with France being the largest of the 15 creditors.

Bezard, who is also director-general of the French treasury, said he
believed his visit was the first ever to Cuba for a Paris Club leader.

The two sides were in reconciliation, the process of determining exactly
how much debt and interest Cuba owes to each creditor, a prerequisite
for actual negotiations.

"We have moved very quickly. There is plenty of will on the Cuban side
and the side of the creditors to begin this work," Bezard told a news
conference in Havana. "We are going to close the reconciliation within a
few weeks, and then a few weeks or months later we will have a negotiation."

Any deal with the Paris Club would significantly reduce Cuba's debt,
improve its reputation in financial markets and allow it to issue new debt.

About a year ago Cuba and the Paris Club resumed talks in a new sign the
Communist government was interested in rejoining the global economy and
following the rules of international finance.

Those talks got under way while, unbeknownst to most of the world, Cuba
was also engaged in secret negotiations with the United States to
restore diplomatic relations.

In the past four years, Cuba has restructured its debt with China,
Japanese commercial creditors, Mexico and Russia, each time obtaining
substantial reductions in what it owed in exchange for payment plans it
can meet.

The Paris Club is an informal group of 19 creditor nations: Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland and the United States.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Ken Wills)

Source: Paris Club chief in Cuba to expedite debt negotiations | Reuters
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/07/us-cuba-debt-paris-club-idUSKBN0M302Y20150307