Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer (second from right) meets with officials representing LIAT's other two shareholder-governments, Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines, at merger talks in St. John's Wednesday (CMC Photo)

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua, CMC - Shareholder governments in the regional air carrier, Leeward Islands Air Transport (LIAT) were meeting here on Wednesday to consider a new financial proposal put forward by the Texan billionaire Allen Stanford to assist the cash-strapped carrier.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that serious consideration was being given to the proposal by Stanford, which aims to assist LIAT in meeting its immediate debts.

As LIAT prepares for a merger with Stanford's Caribbean Star airline, the Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur also sounded a warning that bold decisions now need to be taken in the regional interest.

"I am not prepared to seek to cross a chasm in a series of small jumps. We have reached a stage where there is a chasm to be crossed. We either jump across it or you don't jump and we are at that moment.

"There are proposals before us that will allow us to deal with it and we will deal with it," Arthur said.

The meeting is hosted by the Antigua Prime Minister, Baldwin Spencer, whose government also has significant interest in LIAT.

The merger is seen as a way out of financial difficulty for both LIAT and its closest competitor Caribbean Star, which virtually operates the same route as LIAT and has a similar schedule.

Among the money matters to be settled is the issue of severance for workers who will not form part of the merged entity, as well outstanding obligations to creditors that still need to be addressed.

While suggesting that favourable consideration was being given to the Stanford proposal, Gonsalves confirmed that a second option was earlier put on the table by the government of Trinidad and Tobago but he said this did not bear fruit.

"It doesn't appear that what is on offer there merits the specific problem which we are faced with," Gonsalves told CMC at the start of Wednesday's meeting.

Pressed on the issue, Gonsalves said the Trinidad proposal was not as "immediate' as the LIAT shareholder governments would have liked. Therefore, he said, the Stanford offer would take precedence.

Asked whether there would still be a "merger of equals", Gonsalves would only say that the region's interests would be protected. He also said regional governments would seek to maintain "dignity" in the negotiating process with Stanford.

CMC