CNN/Money One for credit card only hard offer form at $9.95 One for risk-free form at $14.95 w/ $9.95 upsell  
News > International
graphic
Iraq's Allawi hails debt cut
"Paris Club" nations may cut up to 80% of Iraq's debt, Arab countries asked to follow suit.
November 22, 2004: 7:42 AM EST

BAGHDAD (CNN) - Iraq's interim prime minister Monday welcomed an agreement of the so-called "Paris Club" nations to reduce up to 80 percent of his country's international debt, and called on Iraq's "Arab brothers" to follow suit.

A statement from Ayad Allawi's office also said the prime minister "hopes that the Paris Club countries will consider reducing Iraq's debt further.

Click here for more on Iraq

"The Prime Minister notes that Iraq's debt burden, while now very significantly reduced, remains significant," the statement said. "The prime minister looks forward to Iraq's Arab brothers forgiving their debts from Iraq in the very near future to contribute both to Iraq's and their own security and development."

Russia was the last piece of the puzzle to fall into place Sunday afternoon when it agreed to the U.S.-German plan after Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Bush huddled on the matter at the APEC summit in Santiago, Chile.

"The Paris Club agreement represents a major international contribution to Iraq's continued political and economic reconstruction," Bush said in a statement issued Sunday afternoon.

"I encourage non-Paris Club creditor nations to agree to comparable debt reduction for Iraq."

German Finance Minister Hans Eichel and U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow hammered out the deal to forgive up to four-fifths of Iraq's debt in three stages over several years.

The first stage of the agreement operates through the Paris Club, while the second and third stages would operate through the International Monetary Fund.

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Personal Debt
Iraq
Paris (France)
Germany

The Paris Club, an informal group of official creditors, comprises 19 permanent member countries -- including the United States, Germany, and other leading economies -- and works to find sustainable solutions to payment dilemmas experienced by debtor nations. Paris Club creditors agreed to reschedule debts due them.

The deal was discussed on the sidelines of this weekend's G-20 summit. Eichel spokesman Joerg Mueller did not give details of Russia's agreement.  Top of page


-- CNN Berlin Bureau Chief Chris Burns contributed to this report




  More on NEWS
JPMorgan dramatically slashes Tesla's stock price forecast
Greece is finally done with its epic bailout binge
Europe is preparing another crackdown on Big Tech
  TODAY'S TOP STORIES
7 things to know before the bell
SoftBank and Toyota want driverless cars to change the world
Aston Martin falls 5% in its London IPO




graphic graphic

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.