Monday, July 7, 2014

Kicillof requests 'stay' reinstatement during Pollack meeting

File photo of Economy Minister Axel Kicillof, head of the Argentine delegation.

Economy Minister Axel Kicillof today held a meeting that lasted almost four hours with the Special Master appointed by US Judge Thomas Griesa, Daniel Pollack, and requested that an injunction allowingArgentina to pay bondholders be reinstated while negotiations with holdouts developed.

The meeting, held in the New Yorkoffices of Pollack at 245 Park Avenue, lasted for a full three and a half hours, and took place without representatives of the so-called 'vulture funds' who refused to enter debt restructuring efforts in 2005 and 2010.

According to a Ministry statement, Kicillof "outlined Argentina's position in the legal wrangling with thevulture funds, the origin of the debt titles in discussion (the megaswap), the causes of the 2001 default and the numerous, effective measures that have been from 2003 to the present day in order to normalise the country's international financial relations."

The comuniqué also explains that the minister "made it clear that Griesa's sentence, as it has been interpreted would be impossible to abide by; that reinstating the stay would be necessary since the case does not only involve the plaintiffs, but also could be extended to all of the bonds which did not enter restructuring; and would complicated payment to bondholders from the 2005 and 2010 swaps."

Kicillof also reiterated "the country's will to continue with talks in order to assure fair, equitable and legal conditions, which implies taking into account the interests of 100 percent of bondholders," the statement underlines.

Finance Secretary Pablo López, the Economy Ministry’s Legal and Technical Secretary Federico Thea and Deputy 

Attorney

 of the Treasury Javier Pargament accompanied the minister.