"It is not the wish of ATN/GT&T to engage in a public quarrel with...the Government of Guyana. We are therefore issuing this press statement to reiterate our constant position," Jagan said in a release late Friday afternoon.

The Government has said that the resort by Atlantic Tele-Network (ATN) to the boardroom of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) "to thwart Guyana's national development is inexcusable and must be rejected".

The U.S. Virgin Islands-based ATN owns 80 per cent of GT&T and is trying to get the IDB not to approve a loan for the important Information and Communications Technology (ICT) project for Guyana, for which the Government has vigorously lobbied.

The US$18M loan is intended to be used to expand and modernise Guyana's information technology sector and approval has been held up because of protest by the phone company.

According to Jagan, it is common knowledge that after fruitful negotiations in Trinidad with a Government team that included Guyana's Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mr. Doodnauth Singh, and IDB expert Mr. Hank Intven, the way was cleared for the IDB loan for the ICT project to be approved once certain issues were addressed "before we could agree to giving up our contractual monopoly" in this area.

She said a Memorandum of Understanding to cover these agreements was promised within a short time.

"It is our understanding that the Government seemed not to approve the performance of their negotiation team and as a result some two months later the matter has not yet reached Cabinet," she argued. She claimed this moved ATN/GT&T to seek to protect the interests of its shareholders.

She noted that the two leading spokespersons for the Government - President Bharrat Jagdeo and Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon - have pronounced on this situation at their last press conferences.

She quoted Luncheon as saying "the agreement entered into between the Government of Guyana and ATN/GT&T in 1991...is the basis of the problem."

"We and every Guyanese agree. We are fed-up and frustrated at forever being painted as the bad guys, simply because the contract that we negotiated in good faith with the Government of Guyana was a different administration to the one now in power," Jagan asserted.

She said the President "keeps reminding us that ATN/GT&T has raked in millions while only paying US$16M for the privatised company".

"What the President must know is that it was as in the case with (the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated) GPL, (a contract brokered by the current government), the best offer available."

"What the President also did not say was that GT&T has since further invested over US$150M in expansion projects," she added.

"What the President knows but most Guyanese do not know is that over the past ten years ATN/GT&T have paid US$105M in taxes, dividends and other fees (and) it is interesting to note that GT&T's current corporate taxes paid equate to over 30 per cent of the total amount collected by the Inland Revenue Department," she said.

"So as was done in a similar situation in Costa Rica, let's move (to) arbitration," Jagan suggested.

President Jagdeo, accepting that the method of resolving this issue must be decided, has indicated that arbitration must deal with all the issues such as "the contract, a fair rate of return, non-fulfilment of the expansion plan, the controversial six per cent fees and tax issues".

"We agree (with the President). Let us put an end to all the contention. Let us arbitrate," Jagan said.

According to her, even GT&T's biggest detractors will concede that the phone company has in fact done much good even while receiving the lowest rates in the region.

"We have been good and responsible corporate citizens - organisations and people from all walks of life, have benefited from our generosity. We are a great example of an efficient major utility totally run by a competent all-Guyanese team," she argued.

"It would be foolhardy for us not to agree that this ICT project is potentially beneficial for all Guyanese but it does not have to be accomplished by breaking existing legal undertakings and destroying existing networks," Jagan said.

In this regard, she stated: "Let us move to arbitration."

Luncheon last week said that "GT&T/ATN's attempt to hold to ransom the development of Guyana, the aspirations of its young people and the welfare of the citizens, is impossible to accept".

"Guyana will join the rest of the world in harnessing the technology unhindered by the actions of GT&T/ATN," Luncheon told his regular post-Cabinet news conference.

"Whatever develops, the administration is quite clear that it is the interest of the Guyanese people...that remains uppermost," he said.

Information and communications technology holds great promise for the world and specifically for Guyana, and the People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/Civic) administration recognises this, Luncheon said.

It realises that Guyana possesses unique advantages that could be exploited to improve the economy, development and welfare of Guyana, he added.

"GT&T and ATN are trying to hold this action and the Government's intention to ransom, in essence, to hold back, to retard national progress."

According to the Cabinet Secretary, the administration has always taken GT&T/ATN challenges seriously, pointing out, "the agreement entered into between the Government of Guyana and ATN/GT&T (in 1991)...is the basis of the problem".