Meeting with the representatives of the private sector.

On March 10, 2003, the Paris Club creditors invited representatives of the private sector to meet in Paris for an exchange of views on issues and recent developments related to the restructuring of sovereign external debt. Twenty market participants as well as representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank took part in this meeting, which was chaired by Mrs Stéphane Pallez, Co-Chairperson of the Paris Club.

Paris Club creditors presented first their 2002 activity, focusing both on their key contribution to the HIPC initiative and on the most significant deals they concluded in the past months in particular with Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Serbia-Montenegro and Indonesia. As for these agreements, participants emphasised the importance of comparability of treatment. In addition, participants exchanged views on the outlook for 2003, notably for countries such as Nigeria and Argentina (please see attached presentation).

Private creditors described their agreement concluded under the auspices of the "London Club" with Indonesia and their on-going negotiation with Côte d'Ivoire. There was also a brief discussion on the status of their discussions with Serbia & Montenegro and Argentina.

Participants also discussed litigation from "rogue creditors", namely a category of creditors suing debtor countries even though they are engaged in a debt restructuring process. Paris Club creditors expressed their concerns about the financial and legal impact, especially on the HIPC initiative.

They had a general discussion on the issues raised by sovereign debt restructurings, including current proposals. They also raised the question of future dialogue to be held between Paris Club members and private sector representatives (please see attached presentation).

Creditors from both sides noted their satisfaction with the fruitful exchange of information and views during this meeting. There was a general agreement that this exchange of views was useful and that annual discussions should continue in the future.

Background notes

1. The Paris Club of creditor countries was formed in 1956. It is an informal group of creditor governments from major industrialised countries. It meets on a monthly basis in Paris with debtor countries in order to agree with them on restructuring their debts.

2. There are 19 members of the Paris Club: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.