Argentina hopes to boost Paris Club debt talks
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A meeting of Argentina's president with her French counterpart may provide new stimulus to talks with the Paris Club over Argentina's $6.3 billion debt, Argentina's finance minister said on Sunday.
Argentina defaulted in late 2001 and made an early repayment of about $10 billion owed to the International Monetary Fund in 2005. It is still in talks over the remaing debt with the Paris Club of 19 creditor countries, including France, Germany and the United States.
"The trip of the Argentine president to France, where she is expected to meet the French president, means a change in the quality (of the talks)," Martin Lousteau told reporters during the Inter-American Development Bank meeting in Miami.
Lousteau said Argentina had met twice with creditors in Paris early this year and that President Cristina Fernandez would meet French President Nicholas Sarkozy on Monday.
He said the first meeting took place in February and was followed by talks of a more technical nature in March. Both encouters were intended to set the pace for an agreement for the South American country to pay what it owes the club.
Lousteau denied a media report that Argentina had made a cash offer to pay some of its debt.
"The technical meeting discussed issues related to the macroeconomic situation of Argentina and a sustainability analysis," he said.
Since the default, Argentina's economy has boomed and the country has been facing increasing pressures to pay its debt as it has accumulated more than $50 billion in reserves.
The minister said that any deal with the Paris Club would have to respect Argentina's sovereignty and give the country time to pay the debt.
Lousteau ruled out any involvement of the IMF as part the negotiations. "That's non-negotiable", he said.
Lousteau held no formal meetings with U.S Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in Miami, but both would talk at an IADB dinner on Sunday night, government sources said.
(Reporting by Adriana Garcia, Editing by Jan Dahinten)
