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 Talks on the debt, which Argentina stopped servicing as part of its
massive default in 2002, have been stalled for years. Paris Club
members Germany and Japan between them hold about 60 percent of the
outstanding amount.
With Buenos Aires signaling it wants to settle disputes with its
creditors, Paris Club members have been eager to get a concrete
proposal for the debt to be repaid over a period of time to be
determined in negotiations.
"We will make an offer," the Argentine source told Reuters before a
meeting between the delegation led by Economy Minister Axel Kicillof
with Paris Club officials in the French capital.
Speaking in Buenos Ares, Cabinet chief Jore Capitanich told
reporters that the negotiation would have to respect Argentina's
national interests and ability to pay.
"This is the basic condition for negotiation the country has, and
that is the position the minister Axel Kicillof will establish," he
said.
Capitanich added that Argentina's debt payments would reach $5.5
billion this fiscal year and slightly more next year before the
burden eases in the years from 2016 to 2019.
The Paris Club wants to be reimbursed in full in order to avoid
creating a precedent for other countries that owe its members money.
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Argentina wants a breakthrough deal with the group of sovereign
creditors because it needs to open up new sources of international
funding after being shut out of capital markets for more than a
decade since its default.
High inflation and falling confidence in Latin America's
third-biggest economy have driven Argentina's peso to new lows this
month as its foreign exchange reserves have dropped.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; additional
reporting by Alejandro Lifschitz; editing by Catherine Evans)
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