Mr. Gaston Browne, the current Prime Minister of Antigua, is the first person to add online gambling as part of his official speech at the UN General Assembly. On the 23rd of September, he made his first speech at the UN.
Browne has been the Prime Minister of Antigua for three months, starting from 13th of June. The most important international dispute, that the country has had for the past years is the conflict with the US concerning online gambling.
Browne began his speech by stating the major contributions of the UN for managing to prevent or diminish some of the global crisis happening in the world today.
He further continued by stating that he is a ‘steadfast believer in the worth’ of the United Nations. However, it was obvious that his politeness was mixed with disapproval of the reality that the bigger and stronger economies have ‘too often used their privileged positions to weaken the authority of the organization in advancement of their own narrow interests.’
Browne explained that in the future he would be glad to see the UN helping the smaller, ‘less important’ countries so that their rights and sovereignty are defended as those of any other country.
He reminded the audience that his country has been struggling for the past ten years, trying to solve its dispute with the U.S. and despite the positive ruling of the Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO, the issue is still not resolved. The issue involves the U.S. blocking access to Antiguan online gambling operators to do business with U.S. players.
Back in 2013, Antigua has issued a statement which requires the U.S. to change its policy towards the online operators as U.S. horse racing businesses accept online wagers, yet Antiguan operators were not allowed to do that.
The World Trade Organization has stood on the side of Antigua on a variety of occasions, and has lately required of the U.S. Government to pay $21 million each year to Antigua to make up for its losses. The U.S. Government has refused to follow this requirement and has not paid anything so far.
Over the years, Antigua has offered the U.S. a variety of resolutions, each one less costly for the U.S. yet there has been no firm reply from the other party.
Brown continued his speech by further addressing the issue, stressing on the effect that the U.S. unwillingness to cooperate has caused to his nation – the money owed by the U.S. could have ‘contributed significantly to the welfare of my people, and to the capacity of our economy to cope with the grave effects of climate change.’
He made sure that the actions of his government are not misunderstood as hostile, but as simply doing the right thing for the well-being of its country. He ended his speech by both thanking the WTO for its continuous support throughout the years, yet demanding of it to solve the issue to the end by collecting what the U.S. owes.
He quoted President Obama that bigger countries should not bully smaller ones, a statement he made the day before, again at the UN General Assembly.
