The representatives of the three creditor countries, including finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, held a press briefing on the margins of the annual spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington on Thursday.

“We discussed the debt situation of Sri Lanka, Ghana, Zambia and Ethiopia. Resolutions should happen on time as it’s a time-consuming affair, even after IMF assurances,” Sitharaman said after the meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting at Washington.She emphasised that collaboration among creditors was important to ensure transparency and equality in the debt restructuring discussions.

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki described the launch as a historical development. “To be able to launch this negotiation process gathering, such a broad-based group of creditors, is a historical outcome,” he told reporters at the news conference.

French director general of the treasury Emmanuel Moulin also joined Sitharaman and Suzuki at the press conference. FE