Paris Club

Paris Club (French: Club de Paris) is a group of major creditor countries aiming to provide a sustainable way to tackle debt problems in debtor countries. Its creation, which is the first informal meeting, dates back to 1956, when Argentina agreed to hold a meeting with its public creditors.

The Paris Club treats public claims (that is to say, those due by governments of debtor countries and by the private sector), guaranteed by the public sector to Paris Club members. A similar process used to occur for public debt held by private creditors in the London Club, which was organized in 1970 on the model of the Paris Club as an informal group of commercial banks renegotiating together the debt they hold on sovereign debtors (countries to which they extended loans) which were no longer able to repay.

Creditor countries meet c. ten times a year for Tour d'Horizon and negotiating sessions. To facilitate Paris Club operations, the French Treasury provides a small secretariat, and the Director general of the French Treasury acts as chairman.

Paris club has reached 478 agreements with 102 debtor countries to date for approximately USD 600 bn rescheduled.

There are currently 22 Permanent Members of the Paris Club:

Creditor delegations are generally led by a senior delegate from the Ministry of Finance.

Other official creditors can also participate in negotiation sessions or in monthly "Tours d'Horizon" discussions, subject to the agreement of permanent members and of the debtor country. When participating in Paris Club discussions, invited creditors act in good faith and abide by the practices described below. The following creditors have participated in some Paris Club agreements or Tours d'Horizon in an ad hoc manner:

Observers are invited to attend the negotiating sessions of the Paris Club but they cannot participate in the negotiation itself, nor sign the agreement that formalizes the result of negotiation.