CIGI and the Financing for Development Office of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (FfDO/UNDESA ) are co-hosting an Expert Group Meeting on Sovereign Debt Restructuring on May 18th, 2012.
The purpose of the meeting is to explore concrete, practical steps to improve the framework for the timely and orderly restructuring of sovereign debt. The Expert Group will consider a range of issues, including ex ante incentive structures and institutional arrangements that facilitate or impede restructuring, recent developments with respect to voluntary debt exchanges and the outlook with respect to continued reliance on such mechanisms. In this regard, the Expert Group will also consider the possible need for statutory mechanisms to both facilitate timely restructuring and to provide greater clarity of the rules by which sovereign debt restructuring will occur. The meeting will close with a panel discussion focused on the priority and prospects for reforms to improve the architecture for debt restructuring.
The Expert Group meeting is intended to encourage a frank, technical discussion of possible measures to enhance the effectiveness of the debt restructuring process and, as a result, improve the efficiency of global capital markets and reduce losses faced by creditors, sovereign borrowers and others adversely affected by the uncertainty surrounding potential disruptive debt scenarios. The meeting is by invitation only and will be subject to the Chatham House Rule.