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ATFA Urges Paris Club to Stand Up to Argentina, Preserve Rules of International Lending
Press Release
March 16, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, March 16, 2007
Contact: info@atfa.org
1-888-662-2382
www.atfa.org

ATFA Urges Paris Club to Stand Up to Argentina, Preserve Rules of International Lending

WASHINGTON Today, American Task Force Argentina (ATFA) Co-chairs Robert J. Shapiro and Nancy Soderberg urged Paris Club Chairman M. Xavier Musca to oppose Argentina's selective debt repayment proposal and enforce rules of the global lending and the Paris Club charter.

In a March 15 letter to Chairman Musca, Shapiro and Soderberg asked that Musca and the Paris Club Member Countries reject Argentina's efforts to pursue selective bilateral repayments of its debts, a clear breach of the established principles of the Paris Club. These efforts, Shapiro and Soderberg write, undermine international lending standards:

" Such bilateral deals jeopardize repayment to other Member countries and hundreds of thousands of U.S. and other private investors, undermine the Paris Club as an institution and could destabilize the established frameworks of global lending."

The letter also addresses the dangerous precedent set by Argentina during its historic debt default and 2005 restructuring, creating what the authors caution may be seen as an "attractive alternative" for other countries to mimic:

"At a time when other countries such as Ecuador are openly considering a sovereign debt default on the Argentine model, the Paris Club should command respect for the established rules of international lending and finance Such an environment could produce a domino effect of defaults around the developing world, where international capital is most needed."

The Paris Club is currently reviewing an Argentine proposal for repayment of more than $6.5 billion owed to Member Countries. Details of the proposal have not been made public though Argentine President Nestor Kirchner has publicly refused to move forward if the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is involved in the process.

Made up of major creditor groups, the ATFA is co-chaired by The Honorable Robert J. Shapiro, former Under Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs in the Clinton Administration and Ambassador Nancy Soderberg, Ambassador at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1997 to 2001.

For additional information, please visit our new website at www.atfa.org, or contact info@atfa.org, or +1-888-662-2382.

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