|
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)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
