Belgrade (MINA-BUSINESS) - Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus has said that over the next few days the Washington authorities were expected to sign a bilateral agreement on writing off two thirds of the Yugoslav debt to the United States, Belgrade daily Danas said. Labus came to Washington from the Netherlands where he signed a bilateral agreement with the Dutch government on forgiving two-thirds of Yugoslavia#s 50 million U.S. dollar debt to this European country. According to the agreement signed with the Paris Club of creditors, Labus is expected to immediately sign an agreement with the U.S. on forgiving 51 percent of Yugoslavia#s debt to the United States. The remaining 15 percent is due to be written off in three years, after the expiry of a new financial agreement between Yugoslavia and the International Monetary Fund. Each percentage of the forgiven debt leaves proportionately more money for the economic development, it reduces the companies# debts to the Paris Club of creditors and these companies become more attractive to potential foreign investors. Yugoslavia#s total foreign debt amounts to 12.2 billion U.S. dollars, of which Serbia owes 9.2 billion, Kosovo 1.4 billion and Montenegro 820 million dollars. The remainder represents a non-allocated debt. Except for the loans approved by the IMF, all other debts are precisely allocated, including the debts to the World Bank. Before the deal was signed with the Paris Club of creditors, some 10.8 billion dollars of the entire external debt had matured and Yugoslavia had a capacity to repay only 0.8 billion dollars from its current account and expected economic assistance.