Trump, Venezuela's Rodriguez discuss debt overhaul, Rubio says

By Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis

NEW ‌YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - ​US President ​Donald Trump and Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez discussed restructuring the South American nation's billions of dollars in sovereign debt, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on ‌Wednesday.

The brief meeting at a reception Trump hosted late on Tuesday on the sidelines ⁠of the UN General Assembly came during Rodriguez's first trip to the US since American forces captured then-President Nicolas Maduro in ‌a January raid.

The meeting is the ‌latest sign of a rapid thaw in US-Venezuela ties since Maduro's removal. Washington is backing efforts to reconnect Venezuela with international lenders and support an economic recovery after years of default, sanctions ​and isolation.

"There's a lot that needs to be fixed in order for Venezuela to be successful," Rubio told reporters. "Debt restructuring is key to that."

Rubio said Venezuela likely faces one of the world's ⁠biggest sovereign debt workouts. He said Washington wanted to help, but that the process "has to be done in the right way."

Venezuela announced ​in May it would begin restructuring its external debt, which has been in default since 2017. The government and state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela together ​have about $60 billion in defaulted bonds outstanding. Analysts estimate total ‌liabilities, including arbitration awards and accrued interest, could reach $150 billion to $200 billion.

Venezuela has not published full debt data for years, while US sanctions imposed in 2017 ⁠largely shut it out of Western financial markets.

POLITICAL CHANGE

Rubio said Washington also pressed for political change. Critics say Washington has sidelined the Venezuelan opposition, dropping demands for free elections in favor of oil and investment deals with ⁠the interim government.

"We made that point that in the end, for this project to be successful, it culminates in a ​free and fair election," Rubio said.

Some US lawmakers have also called for elections, amid criticism that the Trump administration has failed to extract meaningful democratic concessions from Rodriguez's government.

Rodriguez arrived in New York on Monday with a delegation holding talks ‌with US officials, multilateral lenders and companies on energy, mining and debt, sources said.

The head of the Inter-American Development Bank has been working to secure approval for ‌a $2.5 billion loan for Venezuela, Reuters reported on Tuesday, despite resistance from some board members.

Though small relative to ⁠Venezuela's overall obligations, such a loan would ‌mark a major step toward ​restoring international lending.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis in New York and Katharine Jackson and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Writing by Anthony Esposito; Editing by David Ljunggren, Kylie Madry and ‌Sanjeev Miglani)

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