Minister of Finance and the Economy Dr. Errol Cort travelled to Washington yesterday ahead of a high level meeting this week with the US Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Susan Schwab and other officials in the USTR’s office.

The meeting, scheduled for this Friday, is aimed at finally resolving the Internet gambling conflict between Antigua and Barbuda and the United States over market access for Internet gambling countries registered in Antigua and Barbuda. The trade dispute at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has stretched on for several years but both parties agreed to suspend the most recent arbitration process in the hope that this week’s meeting will create a framework for an amicable resolution.

The finance minister is expected to be joined by Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the OAS Deborah-Mae Lovell for the meetings in Washington.

Earlier this year, Antigua and Barbuda submitted a proposal for resolution to the issue and received a counter-proposal from the USTR’s office. Cabinet rejected that counterproposal, but Dr. Cort said that negotiations had been resumed. Neither the contents of the proposal nor the counter proposal has been revealed and Dr. Cort has declined to speculate on a minimum settlement acceptable to Antigua and Barbuda or reveal what the sticking points in the negotiations have been.

The time allotted for the conclusion of the current round of talks is drawing to a close. The two countries applied to the WTO to suspend all legal efforts in Geneva until 6 June. If no resolution is achieved before then, the legal trade battle will be automatically resumed.

Both Cort and Antigua and Barbuda’s attorney at the WTO Mark Mendel have expressed the opinion that an amicable resolution would be preferable to the continuation of the protracted WTO battle.

Meanwhile, the Antigua Sun has been informed that the finance minister will travel from Washington to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to attend the 38th Annual Meeting of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The CDB meeting will run from 26 - 29 May and will be attended by several Caribbean heads of government and finance ministers along with regional and international banking officials and representatives from major international organisations.