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The Paris Club debt is not on the agenda with the U.S.
Clarin
July 10, 2008

By Natasha Niebieskikwiat

Relativized the "readiness" of Bush envoy Tom Shannon to deal with the issue on his visit.

Hector Timerman, Cristina Kirchner's ambassador in Washington, told Clarin that "up to this moment" the Casa Rosada has not put forth, nor will it put forth, to the government of the United States and agreement to carry forward the local negotiations over the debt with the Paris Club. And he repeated several times that it's not an issue on the bilateral agenda. Here is the interview at his home in Buenos Aires:

-Shannon said that his government is ready to speak about the Paris Club, and you said that it's not on the agenda. How is that?

-Those who said the Paris Club will be spoken about are the press and certain financial sectors. Shannon says that if Argentina raises the issue, they are ready to talk. But the Paris Club is not on the agenda with the United States, in issues agreed upon over more than two months of negotiations. And never was on it.

-And Argentina is ready to talk about the Paris Club

-At this moment, no. It's a multilateral issue. It's that we don't only have to speak with the United States, but with a group of countries. When we have an offer or the form in which we want to discuss and conclude with the Paris Club, we'll do it. We appreciate the United States' good will, but they have never requested that we reach an agreement.

-It will be raised by O'Neill.

- O'Neill can't put up an issue that isn't on the bilateral agenda. Of course, no one can prohibit what is said in some form.

-And what issues will be spoken about?

-Regional economic issues, access to markets, FTAA, Mercosur. Agreements on nanotechnology, biotechnology, anti-terrorism, policies against drug trafficking.

-Anything to announce?

-The dynamic of bilateral relations itself. We came through a situation where we were at the point of breaking relations, where everything was frozen until now. I am assuring that Argentina is collaborating with the United States on a big amount of regional conflicts and that the country is a permanent source for consultations in Washington on those issues. Argentina is considered an important country for avoiding the heightening of conflicts in Latin America. It's to the point where a week ago Bill Richardson (today a key man for Democratic candidate Barack Obama) asked if I could make a visit to New Mexico for him to know Cristina's views on Latin America.

- We were at the point of breaking diplomatic relations over the Antonini case?

- Well, not breaking relations. But they were frozen. With the Antonini case we were in a very grave situation.

- What is said in the U.S. about the crisis between the government and the farm sector?

- When we began to put the agenda together, I asked Shannon if he wanted to incorporate the issue of the farm sector and he said for them it's an internal issue. It's also how we would want to touch on the conflict of the banks in the U.S.