SOURCE: Antigua Sun

The government may be prepared to make a statement on the current status of the Internet gambling dispute with the U.S. as early as today, but early indications are that a proposal for the resolution of the trade dispute received from the U.S. last week has not been met favourably by the government.

The Antigua Sun understands that the American settlement proposal was discussed in Cabinet last Wednesday and was not well received.

Minister of Finance and the Economy Dr. Errol Cort said he had put a settlement proposal to U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Susan Schwab when he met with her in January.

Antigua and Barbuda agreed to hold off on arbitration proceedings at the World Trade Organisation until the end of March, allowing time for the proposal to be considered and a counterproposal made.

The finance minister was cautious in his response to queries from the SUN, noting the pending statement.

The SUN was told that there is a possibility that a joint statement with the relevant U.S. authorities will be issued today, failing which, the government of Antigua and Barbuda will issue its own statement on the matter.

"Cabinet has deliberated on the matter and decided on a particular course of action [sic].

"However, the U.S. and ourselves are seeking to agree on the press statement that would follow the decisions on both sides, in terms of how the matter will be handled," he explained.

Meanwhile, the SUN had been informed that the lack of settlement on this issue by the end of March had essentially restarted the WTO dispute resolution process.

In January, Antigua and Barbuda filed a notice requesting arbitration by the WTO on the country’s claim for compensation from the U.S., as America seeks to withdraw from its commitment to provide market access to the Internet gambling sector under the WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services.

Antigua and Barbuda’s attorney in the matter, Mark Mendel, told the SUN that this process had automatically restarted at the WTO once the body was not informed at the end of March that the parties had agreed on a settlement.