Greek Official Says Bailout Talks Going Well

(NewsCore) - Talks between Greece and a delegation of international auditors over a new loan deal for the country are progressing, a Greek government official said Friday as negotiations stretched into the evening.

"The talks are going well," the official said.

A meeting between Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos and representatives from the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank that began Friday afternoon was recently going into its eighth hour. The meeting is expected to continue well into the night.

Greece is holding twin sets of negotiations with its European partners and the International Monetary Fund on a new bailout worth €130 billion ($170 billion). At the same time, Athens is also negotiating a €100 billion debt write-down plan with private sector creditors.

A second government official said, as he was leaving the meeting, that talks were being held in a "positive climate." But he added that it was unlikely negotiations would be concluded Friday. "We probably won't have an agreement this evening. We still have work to do," he said.