Presidential Palace press director Rafael Nunez has told reporters that the government’s economic team headed by Temistocles Montas is continuing its work to lighten the Dominican Republic’s debt load. The government said that the Paris Club had “forgiven” US$137 million of the debt carried with the Paris Club group of nations. This brings the debt owed to the Paris Club to US$222 million. Japanese ambassador Okamoto told reporters that he was negotiating the Dominican debt with Japan, but he did not specify the total amount. The ambassador met with the president of the Chamber of Deputies last Friday to lobby for the approval of two loans that would allow the Japanese International Cooperation Agency to function independently.