Japan, India and France have announced a common platform for talks among bilateral creditors to coordinate restructuring of Sri Lanka's debt.

* The move is expected to serve as a model for solving the debt woes of middle-income economies.
 
* Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told a briefing that to be able to launch this negotiation process with such a broad-based group of creditors is a historical outcome.  He said this committee is open to all creditors.
 
* French Director General of the Treasury Emmanuel Moulin told the briefing that the group is ready to hold the first round of talks as soon as possible.
 
* The island nation of 22 million people last month secured a 2.9 billion dollar programme from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to tackle its huge debt burden.

* But the middle-income economy could not apply for relief under the G-20’s common framework for debt treatments, which targets only low-income countries.  This has put the onus on major economies to come up with an alternative scheme, leading to the creation of the new platform.
 
* Sri Lanka owes 7.1 billion dollar to bilateral creditors, with 3 billion dollar owed to China, followed by 2.4 billion dollar to the Paris Club and 1.6 billion dollar to India, according to official data from Sri Lankan government..

Source : AIR