 The Ministry of Agriculture convened a meeting with stakeholders within the apiculture sector in an effort to develop a strategy and program to further enhance the sector and raise awareness of apiculture through the development of a public communication strategy. The meeting also aimed to reinforce existing guidelines and policies to improve the sector and protect the people of St. Lucia. Acknowledging the recent incident that recently occurred in Viewfort, Dr. Melville emphasized the importance of adhering to mitigating measures when interfacing with bees. This is one of the reasons why we want to move forward with this strong public awareness so people can know how to interact and to dispel any fears that people may have as it pertains to the sector, as it pertains to bees because we're thinking to grow and flourish the sector. And so there are measures, there are mitigating measures that can be put in place to ensure that such incidents do not occur. And so the Ministry is working assiduously to enforce our guidelines, to enforce standards, to ensure that our beekeepers are in compliance with standards and procedures and put in further measures to prevent such an occurrence in the future. Noting the increased interest in bee products and bioproducts, the chief veterinary officer Dr. Charmin Melville Edwin highlights the role of the sector in the economy and its contribution to rural livelihoods. There has been a lot of buzz, a lot of interest in the sector and we've seen a lot of injections, financial especially, into the apiculture sector. And so we expect to see that growth and we expect to see apiculture contributing even more to agriculture, the greater agricultural sector as well as GDP. Apiculture has a lot to offer and the government and ministry by extension the government has invested into apiculture and we hope to expand, increase honey production because there's a great demand for honey in Tien Nguyen. As people see the health benefits of it, we've seen a demand for it and so we need to increase supply to meet that demand. As the Ministry of Agriculture works to develop the apiculture industry and raise public awareness for the benefits of all St. Lucians, the chief veterinary officer emphasized the importance of practicing due diligence and care within the sector. From the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anicia Antoine reporting.