The Paris Club is an informal group of financial officials from 19 of the world's richest countries, which provides financial services such as debt restructuring, debt relief, and debt cancellation to indebted countries and their creditors. Debtors are often recommended by the International Monetary Fund after alternative solutions have failed.
It meets every six weeks at the French Ministry of the Economy, Finance, and Industry in Paris. It is chaired by a senior official of the French Treasury, currently the Under-Secretary of the Treasury , Jean-Pierre Jouyet.
The club grew out of crisis talks held in Paris in 1956 between the nation of Argentina and its various creditors.
In 2004, the Club decided to write-off the debts of Iraq. They will probably also help the victims of the Indian Ocean earthquake.
The permanent member-nations of the club are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
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