Crucial talks over Greek debt swap continue

Greek officials continued in Athens over the weekend a new round of marathon talks with international creditors aiming to reach two crucial agreements on the Greek debt swap plan and the terms of the second aid bailout program to avert a Greek default.“Many issues have been solved, but there are still some crucial topics that remain open,” Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said on Saturday, after one more meeting with a delegation of inspectors of European Union (EU)/International Monetary Fund (IMF) creditors over the second 130-billion-euro (170.91 billion U.S. dollars) rescue loans package.The Greek government holds tough negotiations with the auditors over the past two weeks over the preconditions for the further financing to Athens.Following a teleconference of eurozone finance ministers on Saturday afternoon on the progress achieved, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is expected to discuss again the draft deal with the inspectors on Saturday evening and with the leaders of the three parties backing his interim government on Sunday.Efforts to strike an agreement over the release of the second aid package seem to be the more difficult part of the duel process under way over the past few weeks.Greek officials cannot easily accept the painful fresh demands of international creditors for further austerity and reforms to slash deficits and kick start growth to overcome the debt crisis, local political analysts noted.“The bond exchange deal seems to be the easier part of talks at the moment,” Venizelos admitted in comments to media on Saturday, amid a wave of meetings and reports that a draft agreement on the voluntary write- down of part of the Greek debt held by the private sector is almost finalized. Xinhua