Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos is hastily preparing his suitcases so he can rush to Washington on Sunday after an invitation of the International Monetary Fund. However Venizelos will also have meetings with Senators of Greek origin and most likely with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
According to Greek media, Venizelos will present to IMF-chief Christine Lagarde and senior officials the progress Greece has made in the last months regarding the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding and the reforms containing in the Medium Term Austerity Programme.
The finance minister is expected to meet with members of the U.S. Senate of Greek origin and have a “cooperation with U.S. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner”.
While some media claim there was an urgent call to visit the IMF and the USA, the Finance Ministry speaks of a visit that was planned some time ago. The Ministry dismissed media claims that Venizelos is rushing to Washington in order to hinder Senate Republicans initiative to “limit U.S. commitments to International Monetary Fund plans to bailout Greece.”
“Such an initiative doesn’t mean that it is supported by the official policy of the USA” Venizelos said.
