Antiguan, US Authorities to Meet this Weekend

8 November 2007

Authorities from Antigua and Barbuda (Antigua) will meet with members of the U.S. Congress this weekend to discuss its long-time dispute with the United States over Internet gambling.

The 12th Annual Caribbean Multinational Business Conference, which begins today, will host 20 members of Congress, including Reps. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Maxine Waters, D-Calif., in private meetings and tours of the Caribbean nation's Financial Services Regulatory Commission and some Internet gaming companies, Finance Minister Errol Cort told the Associated Press.

Cort said that Antigua hopes to prove that the island nation does have the "capacity to adequately regulate these gaming operations."

Antigua is awaiting a decision by the Arbitration Committee at the World Trade Organization on whether it can impose $3.4 billion in trade sanctions against the United States.

The conference focuses on promoting business investment between the United States and the Caribbean.