Greek PM eyes debt buy-back success next week

Greece's prime minister said Sunday he was convinced he would soon be able to declare success in his country's huge debt buy-back plan, as he visited the southern German state of Bavaria. Greek authorities have set a 30-billion-euro ($38.7-billion) target for a complex financial operation to buy back some of the country's huge debt pile at reduced prices that began on Monday. And speaking after talks with Bavaria's state premier Horst Seehofer, Antonis Samaras told reporters he was confident of a positive outcome. "I believe or I am firmly convinced that on Monday or Tuesday, we will actually be able to say with certainty that things have gone well," he said, speaking through an interpreter. The operation aims to cut the national debt by around 20 billion euros and is vital to qualify for more financial aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Samaras also said the debt buy-back scheme would be crucial to get the debt-wracked country back on track and said he wanted to put the past behind him. "The only thing I want to look to is the future. My presence here brings hope to the Greek people," he said. Members of Seehofer's Christian Social Union (CSU), up for re-election in nation-wide polls in September, have been some of the harshest German critics of Greece. At the height of the crisis earlier this year, several CSU members called for Greece to leave the eurozone, often sending markets into a tailspin. The party, a junior coalition partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right government, has since toned down its rhetoric as Samaras has pushed through a raft of reforms to unlock vital international aid. And Seehofer stressed that "we now have a situation in which we can work well together", adding "the future is now set up well". He said the two leaders had agreed to task their ministers with finding ways to deepen ties between Greece and Bavaria after a traditional regional dinner featuring oxtail soup and apple strudel with Greek yoghurt. The Greek leader had set the tone for the meeting by telling the local Muenchner Merkur on the eve of the talks that he was "coming as a friend". "We are partners who share the same values and ideals," he said.