Minister of Finance confers with Nordic counterparts

Press release No. 1/2010

The Icelandic Minister of Finance, Steingrimur J. Sigfusson, met today with the Norwegian and Danish Finance Ministers, and the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and spoke with his Finnish counterpart by telephone. Yesterday he spoke by telephone with the Swedish Minister of Finance.

These consultations were aimed at explaining the situation which has developed in Iceland following the decision by the President of Iceland not to sign into law the so-called Icesave legislation but to subject the bill to a referendum. The parties furthermore discussed the impact and repercussions this could have on the continuation of disbursements and the implementatin of the loan agreements which are in place between Iceland and the Nordic countries, which are a key factor in Iceland’s economic recovery programme agreed with the IMF.

Following his meetings with Nordic colleagues, Minister of Finance Steingrímur J. Sigfússon had this to say:

"On the whole, I am satisfied with the responses I received from the ministers after having explained our situation and hopefully resolved much of the uncertainty which had arisen. It has been, and continues to be, very important to maintain positive relations and co-operation between Nordic governments and Iceland; these meetings have ensured that this will be the case."

Ministry of Finance, January 8 2010