A meeting of the Paris Club member countries and Brazil took place in March 2010 with representatives from the Democratic Republic of Congo for the purpose of coming to an agreement for the reduction of Congolese debt. The meeting was successful due to Republic having come to the Completion Point under an initiative for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, which came to be in January 2010. The agreement allows for the cancellation of $981 million USD. This amount is derived from the Paris Club and Brazil is owed under the HIPC initiative.

The lingering problem of litigating creditors being uncooperative has caused concern to the Paris Club. This continuing problem has made the Paris Club urge the Republic of Congo to use practices similar to the HIPC initiative for its external creditors. A 100% debt relief package of an additional $1.4 billion USD was offered by the Paris Club creditors on a bilateral basis, making the total of debt relief given to the Republic of Congo $2.4 billion USD.

The Paris Club member countries and Brazil came to this agreement from the Republic of Congo's adopting an aggressive stand on poverty reduction as well as an economic program determined to ensure that The Republic of Congo's economic growth becomes sustainable.

The Republic of Congo announced that the monies paid into the country will be held in a special account, which would be used for its poverty reduction program. Special areas of concern to the Republic of Congo were identified as most importantly health care and improvements in the country's infrastructure and educational institutions.

Background notes
1. The Paris Club, formed in 1956, is a group of consisting of creditor governments from most industrialized countries This is an informal group that meets monthly in Paris to examine and determine policies concerning debtor countries and the restructuring of these countries debts.
2. The Paris Club meeting concerning the Republic of Congo's debt restructuring included representatives of the governments of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, as well as the non-member Brazil. Representatives from Japan, the International Monetary Fund, the International Development Association, the African Development Bank and the Secretariat of the UNCTAD were present at the meeting, acting as observers.
3. The meeting was chaired by Mr Rémy RIOUX, Vice Chairman of the Paris Club, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Treasury and Economic Policy Department of the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Employment and the delegation of the Republic of Congo was headed by Mr Gilbert ONDONGO, Minister for Finance, Budget and Public Portfolio.

Technical notes
1. The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 8 December 2008 approved the Republic of Congo's economic program, which is supported by an arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility.
2. The Republic of Congo's public external debt was estimated to be USD 5.6 billion as of end 2008 (source: IMF and IDA documents). The debt owed to Paris Club creditors and Brazil was estimated to be USD 2.5 billion as of 1st January 2010 (source: Paris Club).
3. IDA-administered EU loans are included in this treatment.