Russia agrees to Iraq debt plan
BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Russia agreed Sunday to join in an international agreement to forgive up to 80 percent of Iraq's foreign debt, allowing the deal brokered by German and U.S. officials to go ahead.
Russia, one of Iraq's largest creditors, is owed billions of dollars by the struggling nation.
Moscow was the last of its major creditors to agree to the plan by the so-called Paris Club nations.
President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the issue over the weekend at the APEC Summit in Chile.
"The Paris Club agreement represents a major international contribution to Iraq's continued political and economic reconstruction," Bush said in a statement issued Sunday afternoon.
"I encourage non-Paris Club creditor nations to agree to comparable debt reduction for Iraq."
German Finance Minister Hans Eichel and U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow hammered out the deal to forgive up to four-fifths of Iraq's debt in three stages over several years.
The first stage of the agreement operates through the Paris Club, while the second and third stages would operate through the International Monetary Fund.
The Paris Club, an informal group of official creditors, is made of 19 permanent member countries -- including the United States, Germany, and other leading economies -- and works to find sustainable solutions to payment dilemmas experienced by debtor nations.
Paris Club creditors agreed to reschedule debts due them.
The deal was being discussed on the sidelines of this weekend's G-20 summit. Eichel spokesman Joerg Mueller did not give details of Russia's agreement.
CNN Berlin Bureau Chief Chris Burns contributed to this report
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
