WTO to issue interim report on Antigua in January

After hearings in Geneva this month, Errol Cort, the finance minister of Antigua, welcomed the support his country had received from big trading partners of the U.S., including China, Japan and members of the European Union. A record of the Geneva hearings is to be published December 22, and an interim report on January 11. The parties will be given a period of time to submit their comments and observations on the panel's rulings and recommendations, before the final report is made available to the entire WTO membership sometime in early February 2007.