We, the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica on 4-7 July 2010, having been advised by the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda of the continued failure of the United States of America to comply with the 2007 ruling of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) in relation to the provision of remote (internet) gaming services, express our strong solidarity with the Government and people of Antigua and Barbuda in their effort to achieve justice in keeping with the WTO ruling.

 

We are deeply concerned that the sustained efforts of Antigua and Barbuda to secure a negotiated settlement with the United States have not yet yielded any tangible result. We are equally concerned about the negative impact on the economy of Antigua and Barbuda brought about by the significant contraction of the gaming sector through the departure of business operators and the dramatic decline in employment as a consequence of the dispute.

 

The Caribbean Community fully subscribes to a rules-based multilateral trading system and fully endorses the right of Antigua and Barbuda to seek to impose retaliatory trade sanctions on the United States of America consistent with the WTO DSB ruling. We, however, urge the Parties to exhaust all possibilities for a negotiated settlement in the spirit of continued partnership.

 

The Caribbean Community and the United States have enjoyed longstanding, co-operative and mutually beneficial relations, the most recent manifestation of this being the ten-year extension of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) to 2020 and the recently launched Caribbean Basin Security Initiative. We therefore remain convinced of the possibilities for a successful negotiated outcome. We attach the highest priority to the urgent resolution of this matter and therefore call for an early engagement at the highest appropriate political level with the United States, to bring about a mutually agreed settlement of the matter.