Luxembourg finance minister: Greek debt deal near

DUBAI (Reuters) - Greece and its private creditors realize the need to avert a financial collapse of the country and are close to a deal on restructuring Greek sovereign debt, Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden said on Tuesday.

"We are close to finding an agreement...Because the agreement is in the interest of the euro zone but also of the private creditors," Frieden told Reuters in Dubai during a visit to Gulf Arab countries.

"Because the final aim is to avoid the financial collapse of Greece with much more substantial consequences for the stability of the euro zone."

Frieden said he had not been asking Gulf countries to contribute aid to help the euro zone resolve its debt problems, but added that governments in the Gulf Cooperation Council understood the need for them to play an important role in strengthening the International Monetary Fund.

"We are living in an interconnected world and via the involvement of the International Monetary Fund, we think that the IMF has to play an important role next to the European mechanisms that we have put into place," he said.

"Via the IMF and increasing the resources of the IMF, obviously all other countries have an interest in Europe being a place of growth...I think that the GCC countries are fully aware of their important role in the world economy via the IMF and the Bretton Wood institutions."

(Reporting by Martina Fuchs; Editing by Andrew Torchia)