Finance ministers of the eurozone countries late Tuesday signed off on an 8-billion-euro (about 10.7 billion U.S. dollars) aid payment to Greece, part of the first international bailout package agreed with Athens last year.

The release of the payment, which is the sixth installment of loans to help Greece finance itself, came after a month of delays due to the Greek major political parties' refusal to sign on a written commitment concerning structural reforms to the international lenders.

"The pre-conditions have been met, including the signing of letters of support from the Greek prime minister and from the leaders of the main political parties in Greece," Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said after a meeting of the eurozone finance ministers.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) executive board is expected to take its decisions at the beginning of December, and then the loan will be made available in mid-December, a crucial time for Greece as a large portion of its government debt came due just at that time, Junker said.

The Eurogroup chairman also called upon representatives of private creditors and the Greek authorities to speed up negotiations to reach agreement in January, ensuring the 50 percent reduction of the value of the Greek government bonds held of private investors.

Xinhua