Washington, Apr 13: Moscow will discuss restructuring Iraq's debt but has no intention of offering more concessions than other creditors, said Russian finance minister Alexei Kudrin. "The restructuring (of Iraq's debt) will happen. And we will not give more than any of the other countries, Kudrin told reporters yesterday on the sidelines of the international monetary fund (IMF) and world bank spring meetings here.
"The rules that will apply are the same as for any other foreign debt" - in other words negotiations will be dealt with within the framework of the Paris club, the body dealing with restructuring of debt of debtor nations.
Kudrin played down the likelihood of Iraq refusing to pay back part of its foreign debt, estimated at more than 120 billion dollars with interest. Some eight billion dollars is owed to Russia.
"That's not likely, since the country is going to try and normalise relations with the rest of the world," the Russian minister noted.
Kudrin also applauded the fact that the IMF and G7 had managed to reach an agreement supporting the principle of a new UN resolution to rebuild Iraq following the war.
The Paris club, set up in 1956, is an informal group of official creditors whose role is to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to the payment difficulties experienced by debtor nations. Bureau Report