PM Browne moves to assist Dominica in Ross University debacle

Antigua and Barbuda stands ready to support Dominica in its fight to keep a campus of the Ross University School of Medicine open in the country.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne, in a statement on Thursday, said that the government is willing to provide incentives including eliminating transit taxes for students passing through the twin island state en route to the university in Dominica.
Browne said that the Antigua and Barbuda administration recognises the value of the learning institution to the economy of Dominica, and any move away from the island will impact, even in the short-term, employment, foreign exchange earnings and air arrivals.
Minister of Tourism, Charles ‘Max’ Fernandez underscored the value of the university to Dominica during a town hall meeting yesterday, stating that the medical university contributed about 30 percent of Dominica’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Although the Antigua and Barbuda government has continued to earn revenue from the transit fees, Browne announced that the government is willing to forego the revenue that Antigua might have collected to help its neighbour.
Last week, Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit announced that the university made the decision to relocate its campus from Dominica to Barbados.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)