News

Saudi Arabia Co-chairs 1st Creditor Committee Meeting on Chad Request for Debt Treatment

Mahmoud Elassal1

Following the G20 endorsement of the "Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) under the Saudi G20 Presidency, the 1st Creditor Committee meeting was conducted on 15 April 2021, in response to Chad's request for a debt treatment under the G20 Common Framework from its G20 and Paris Club creditors.

The meeting was co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France.

The Ministry of Finance represented the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in co-chairing the 1st Creditor Committee meeting on Chad's request for Debt Treatment under the Common Framework beyond the DSSI.

The meeting was attended by France (the other co-chair), China, India, and Paris Club Secretariat, in addition to representatives of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

The meeting covered key issues around Chad's request for a debt treatment under the Common Framework beyond the DSSI.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia emphasized its support for a successful implementation of the Common Framework and the important role of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank during the process.

Saudi Arabia highlighted the importance of this meeting as it is considered to be the very first test of the Common Framework, which will create a precedent for future cases, and stressed that they would be sparing no efforts in facilitating this process to achieve consensus and complete a successful debt treatment for Chad, whilst being cognizant of the importance to achieve comparability of treatment among all creditors.

It is worth mentioning that the G20 Leaders in Riyadh Summit endorsed the "Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the DSSI", which is also endorsed by the Paris Club in order to address ongoing debt vulnerabilities on a case-by-case approach, with the aim to facilitate timely and orderly debt treatment for DSSI-eligible countries, through a broad creditors participation including the private sector, which is a breakthrough in the international debt arena.