Athens, April 8 (RHC)-- Greece says it seeks to reach an initial agreement with its troika of international creditors in the hope of securing the EUR 7.2 billion (USD 7.9 billion) remaining in its current bailout program.

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told daily Naftemporiki that Athens will try to come to a “preliminary conclusion” at the April 24th meeting of eurozone finance ministers. Varoufakis added that a solution to his country’s financial crisis could only be found in the “European family.”

The comments came a day after Greece agreed to pay off EUR 460 million (USD 501 million) of its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on April 9th. Greece is in difficult talks with the three international creditors - the European Central Bank (ECB), the IMF and the European Commission - over a bailout program, struggling to convince them that it has a credible economic reform plan required to qualify for the bailout.

On February 20th, a tentative agreement to extend Greece’s bailout program by four months was reached during preparatory talks between Varoufakis, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, IMF Managing Director Lagarde and Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

However, Greece was asked to submit a list of proposed economic reforms to the EU in order for the agreement to take effect. Athens has submitted a list of its bailout reform plan, including combating tax evasion and streamlining public administration, to the creditors.