ATHENS: Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will meet Italian counterpart Mario Monti in Rome on Friday amid ongoing efforts to secure more time for the country's fiscal adjustment, an official said.
Samaras "on Friday has an important visit to Rome and a meeting with Mario Monti," government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told Real FM radio on Monday.
The conservative PM, who heads a terse three-party coalition, has sought to convince senior European leaders over the last month that Greece will need more time to enforce reforms whilst trying to emerge from a five-year recession.
This weekend, Samaras called for a two-year extension from its international creditors in order to apply a new austerity package worth 11.7 billion euros ($15 billion), in addition to a liquidity boost from the European Central Bank.
"Instead of the 11.7-billion-euro package taking place over two years, it would be best if it were to take place over four years," the prime minister told the Washington Post.
"We are talking about an extension to 2016," he said.
Samaras had asked for a two-year extension prior to his election in June, but had since made more general requests for "breathing space" as EU-IMF creditors appeared hostile, pointing to months of reform delays.
But eurozone and IMF leaders meeting in Nicosia last week also conceded that Greece needed more time to meet agreed targets under its international bailout.
Greece must apply the latest cuts to unlock 31.5 billion euros ($41 billion) in loans from the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank, part of an ongoing bailout from the three organisations known here as the 'troika'.
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