BRUSSELS, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Greece will meet its debt obligations and plans to reduce its budget deficit to below 3 percent of gross domestic product in four years, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said on Friday.
"We are cutting the deficit with systemic changes and we are planning to do this within four years. It is a very clear programme and we are absolutely determined to do so," Papandreou said in an interview on the sidelines of a European summit.
Papandreou dismissed rumours that Greece could leave the 16-country euro zone because of its large debt.
"There is no such possibility. We have two of the most prominent Europeans who know the economy very well -- the chairman of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet -- who said we are not going to default," he told Reuters.
"I can say that we are a responsible country and we will live up to our obligations. We are a new government, we have a new mandate and the mandate is for change so we are moving ahead on this. People support us absolutely." (Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, editing by Dale Hudson)