Regional support in the Caribbean Community and Common Market (Caricom) is growing for the government of in its long-running World Trade Organisation dispute with the over Internet gambling, reports the Antigua Sun newspaper. 

Caricom Assistant Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin La Rocque told a multi-agency US delegation led by Everett Eissenstat, the United States Trade Representative for the Americas, that the region viewed with concern the USA response to date to the WTO rulings and recommendations in the Internet gaming case and emphasised that the issue should not be regarded as a “bilateral issue” but as a regional one. 

The remarks were made at the first meeting since 1999 of the US-Caricom Trade and Investment Council (TIC) which was attended by trade representatives from Caricom member states and the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM)

In a day long session the Caribbean officials talked to directors and other senior officials of various branches of the US Government, including the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the US International Trade Commission, USAID, US Department of State, US Trade Development Agency, US Department of Commerce, US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and the US Patent and Trademark Office. 

Ambassador La Rocque’s views were reinforced further by the Director General of the CRNM Ambassador Richard Bernal, who, in voicing the region’s response to the US Trade Representative Ambassador Susan Schwab’s call for collective action to resolve the outstanding issues of the now stalemated “Doha Round” of multilateral trade negotiations, urged the US to resolve its WTO Internet gaming case with Antigua & Barbuda. 

“I am pleased at the collective support by our regional representatives on this important issue,” Antigua & Barbuda’s Ministry of Finance and the Economy, Dr. Errol Cort, who has responsibility for the WTO, said.

“And I commend them for their willingness to impress on the most senior US representative on trade matters, USTR Ambassador Susan Schwab, the importance that not only my country but the entire region places on finding a satisfactory resolution to our Internet gaming dispute with the United States,” he added.

Ambassador to the WTO, Dr. John W. Ashe, who headed the Antigua & Barbuda delegation to the meeting, that included Dia Christian of the International Trade Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted that with the presence of so many branches of the US government dealing with all aspects of multilateral and bilateral trade, it was important to highlight the issue.

“This meeting coming so soon after the US Congress adopted legislation that can be detrimental to an important element of our economy, it was important that all branches of the US government were made aware of our concerns with the lack of action on our WTO matter, and that these concerns are shared by all Caricom member States,” he said.