The following statement by Howard Glaser, Cuomo's operations director, was relea sed in an email last night by his

spokesman Joshua Vlasto. "To expand on the Governor's comments on the state's plan for a new convention c enter, the current situation is as follows. A new world class convention center is essential for the state's economic growth as the Javits Center is non-competitive for the largest trade shows and it hasn 't been for a long time. This has been realized for decades but not resolved. As first announced nearly five months ago, the Administration has been negotiati ng with Genting to build a convention center at the current Aqueduct racino. Tho se conversations have not produced a resolution that is satisfactory for the sta te and are made difficult by the lack of certainty about the future of casinos i n New York. During this period, we have also been meeting with other national and internatio nal gaming and development companies with many exciting and competitive possibil ities. From a process perspective, the clearest way forward appears to be a single inte rnational competition once the fate of the casino legislation and referendum has been determined. There is no doubt from our discussions that a New York City metro area casino an d mega convention center franchise is a most desirable and attractive opportunit y for the biggest developers in the world and the state would have an abundance of exciting options. Making these decisions without knowing the outcome of the casino laws is difficu lt for all involved, Planning and developing a comprehensive statewide approach would also allow the state to develop a coordinated plan that addresses the related issues like NYRA' s role and relationship in the new gaming world. We are working through these issues and will update as relevant."