PARIS, Jan 12 (AFP) - The Paris Club, which was expected Wednesday to back a freeze on debt payments by three countries that suffered in last month's Indian Ocean tidal wave, is an informal cluster of some of the world's richest creditor nations.
Its 19 members gather here once a month to confer with debtor countries with which the Club has agreements and, in some cases, to re-negotiate repayments.
The Club was formed in 1956 at a meeting here of countries owed money by Argentina.
The group operates on several key principles: equal treatment for debtors and creditors, a case-by-case approach, consensus in decision making and the greatest possible discretion.
To reach agreement with the Paris Club, a debtor nation must be implementing an economic reform program in conjunction with the International Monetary Fund.
One of the most important recent debt relief deals approved by the Club called for an easing in 80 percent of Iraq's overall debt owed to Club members. The agreement, approved in late November, will last three years.
Iraq owes the Paris Club nations some 40 billion dollars (30 billion euros), about a third of the country's total foreign debt.
The deal provoked comment among non-governmental organizations that routinely denounce the "opportunism" of rich countries only too willing to ease the debt burden carried by strategically important states such as Iraq but are indifferent to the plight of poorer nations with a lower global profile.
The Paris Club currently groups Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.
The London Club groups private creditor banks.
01/12/2005 15:01 GMT - AFP