Your Wrong

[Legislurker]

[ QUOTE ]
"Antigua can't handle much more tourism."

Sure it could. They have plenty of beaches and very little development of them. The major tourism constraint has been airline service and investment capital.

"Any deal can't give them different tariff treatment/market access than that they give other nations."

Sure it can. It would be a settlement of the WTO case. Also, FWIW, the Caribbean Basin Initiative expires soon.

"Antigua is so small that the size of the gaming busiess it had/had can't be replicated in another industry for them."

Huh ? Why couldn't that same workforce be put to work for other call centers, in other industries ? As for the rating of their banking system, most Canadian Banks have subsidiaries there. The remaining banks could be acquired by US-based concerns, given the right incentives.

As for MC/Visa cost analysis, I agree Antigua labor is both expensive and not reliable. However, it is English speaking and can point to call cener success for the online gaming industry. Also consider what VISA/MC and say BofA liability is for processing all those credit card transactions over the years for online gaming ? Aiding and abetting anyone ???

The potential is there for a deal, if the parties are serious and online gaming is expendible in the eyes of Antigua.

I am not saying that deep-sixing online gaming in Antigua WILL happen, and think it will not, but it is odd to insist it cannot happen.

[/ QUOTE ]


Let me put it this way. Settlement can't be achieved by violating the WTO. You cant give preference to Antigua over other countries in the financial sector. They can agree to open a sector, but not to antigua exclusively. Thats the basic premise of MFN, same status to all trading partners.
It could possibly happen as part of the recommittment deal , but I am pretty sure opening a part of your market in these deals means opening it to every trading partner. Thats what makes the WTO work for everyone.