 Welcome to the NTN Nightly, I'm Neesha Charles. This edition stops stories. Saint Lucia hosts a delegation of cruise line executives to focus on maximizing benefits to local suppliers. The Republic of India pledges its assistance in developing an information technology economy in Saint Lucia. All that plus the latest in youth development and sports. Saint Lucia's record performance in the cruise tourism sector in the last year coupled with investments by the government that have not only improved service delivery at the Castries Harbour, but expanded the port's capacity to accommodate larger vessels have positioned the island as a key destination in the region. It is against that backdrop that the Department of Tourism, Information and Broadcasting convened a symposium for stakeholders in the sector including executives of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association, Anissa Antwine has the details. The Department of Tourism, Information and Broadcasting has organized a forum for local suppliers and Florida Caribbean Cruise Association, FCCA, to dialogue on deepening linkages within the sector. The FCCA encompasses 19 member cruise lines operating nearly 200 vessels in Floridian, Caribbean and Latin American waters. In keeping with FCCA's mandate, the forum focused on key areas for development such as Saint Lucia's perception within the cruise market, ratings of Saint Lucia on FCCA cruise lines and product enhancement. Michelle Page is the CEO of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association. I'm very, very proud to be here in Saint Lucia. Saint Lucia is very close to our hearts. As you know that we've been working very diligently to not only increase the spend of the passengers and the crew, but increase the number of passengers that come here. So it's an honor here to be able to work with the private sector, because it's the private sector that's the lifeblood of Saint Lucia to be able to bring up the product. But your government is doing its job and we're very close and we're working on a lot of different initiatives. Approximately 50 local suppliers in areas such as sites, attractions, excursion providers, dive operators and producers gained access to trade directly with cruise lines. Minister for Tourism, Information and Broadcasting, Honourable Dominic Fede, explained that the main purpose for hosting the delegation of cruise executives is to bridge gaps and enable locals to network. We do these town hall meetings really with a view to improving our product, our cruise offering. But more importantly to also increase the revenue spend of the destination. So a lot of discussion will be about the types of tours that we offer, the types of products that we sell, the types of experiences that we give to the cruise passengers. Last year, approximately 760,000 cruise ship passengers visited Saint Lucia. The minister noted that there is a need to adjust the ports to accommodate bigger ships coming to the island. The industry globally is growing by about 7%. We are well ahead of that growth. We're growing at a pace of 13% in the cruise industry. And I think the fact that we continue to grow when there's no hurricane season and there are no disruptions and all the destinations are open, it makes the point very strongly that Saint Lucia as a product is very, very strong and the demand for cruise passengers and for cruises in their itinerary is very, very strong. And that is important. The forum took place on Thursday the 7th of February 2019 at the Dolphin's conference room of the Bay Gardens Beach Resort. From the Government Information Service, I am Anisia Antoine reporting. The growth of tourism in recent years confirms that the sector is today one of the most powerful drivers of economic growth and development. That's according to the Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization. In fact, a report by the agency stated that last year was a very good year for international tourism. There were 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals. A figure the World Tourism Organization didn't expect global tourism to hit until 2020. A long-term forecast from the United Nations World Tourism Organization in 2010 predicted 1.4 billion international arrivals by the year 2020. Reaching it two years ahead of forecast is due in part to stronger economic growth, greater visa facilitation and more affordable air travel, the report says. Tourism to the Middle East and Africa grew above the 6% world average year over year with a 10% increase in the Middle East and a 7% jump in Africa. Asia and the Pacific and Europe both grew by 6%. The Americas saw growth below the world average with a 3% increase. In the Americas, international arrivals in Central America and the Caribbean both dropped by 2%. The Caribbean was hard hit by impacts from the September 2017 hurricanes Irma and Maria. The organization forecast for international tourism in 2019 is expected to be more in line with historical growth trends of 3-4%. In the Caribbean, tourism officials are upbeat about 2019 and confidently expect another year of positive growth bolstered by increased airlift, improved sales, ongoing investments in hotel upgrades and refurbishments and new properties coming on stream. The fourth annual CHTA industry performance and outlook study has indicated that 85% of the hotels surveyed across the region expressed optimism about the year, citing a continuation of the positive performance many experienced in 2018. Increased capital investments are paying dividends for 61% of hotels, while strong revenues are generating new hires by 47% of respondents. Another 44% are maintaining existing employment levels. 76% of hoteliers have reported increased revenue with 29% registering significant growth. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reporting. The Republic of India has recommitted to relations with the government and people of St Lucia. The High Commissioner Designate on Thursday 7th February 2019 presented his credentials to his Excellency Sir Emmanuel Neville Snack, Janelle Norver reports. High Commissioner Designate of the Republic of India to St Lucia, His Excellency Mahender Singh Kanyal has presented his credentials to Governor-General of St Lucia, His Excellency Sir Emmanuel Neville Snack. The High Commissioner highlighted that India is keen on sharing its knowledge, expertise and technical know-how. He added that he is looking forward to collaborating with the Government of St Lucia on various initiatives including the receipt of projects under the Development Partnership Corporation. There is immense potential for both countries to scale their commercial and trade ties. Excellency, India is hopeful that Government of St Lucia would soon take a decision on joining the International Solar Alliance and reach the benefits out of its associated funds for collaborative low-cost solar projects. India is also looking forward to signing MOUs with regard to visa waiver for diplomatic and official passport holders and extradition treaty between the two countries. Governor-General of St Lucia, His Excellency Sir Emmanuel Neville Snack highlighting India's diverse culture among other things indicated that Indians have made significant contributions to St Lucia as well. India is a country to be looked up to. For this despite the diversity in race, culture and religion it has remained stable accounting for the great progress made in agriculture, medicine, technology and other fields. It cannot be denied however that parliamentary democracy and the rule of law given to us by Britain account for the peace and stability we enjoy the foundation that gives rise to development and prosperity. High Commissioner Designate of the Republic of India to St Lucia His Excellency Mahender Singh Kanyal presented his credentials on Thursday for the Government Information Service. I am General Neville. This is the NTN Nightly coming up the latest happenings in youth and sports with Ryan O'Brien. Imagine being away from home surrounded by danger and hostility unable to escape or speak the language and being exploited. It might sound like fiction but for 40 million victims of human trafficking worldwide it is a reality. Innocent people enticed by the promise of a new life then enslaved into forced labour or sex trafficking. Human trafficking happens in plain sight. Know the signs, see it, report it. To report suspected cases of human trafficking call the T.I.B. Hawkely at 847. Welcome back. The organisation of Eastern Caribbean states the OECS can now boast of the ability to provide an on-demand trade and other related data through a single electronic platform. We will have the details in a moment but first we join Ryan O'Brien for the latest happenings in youth development and sports. Hello and welcome once again for news emanating from the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports. The much anticipated Schools Volleyball Festival got underway at the VG Mullipurpose Sports Complex Wednesday with primary and secondary schools on the island sending athletes to display their skills. Volleyball coach within the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, Dennis Sinclair was encouraged by the interest shown by the young volleyballers. I got here and I wasn't too sure what to expect but I got here and I realised it's really happening. We had about 70 primary school kids there from the Martian School and the Methodist School this morning. They left at midday and now we have a few groups from some secondary schools. What gave me the greatest pleasure was to see this girl team coming up from Suffra, coming all the way from Suffra coming up. It shows the commitment with their coach and everything and this really brings joy to my heart. As you could have seen by those shots in our footage, great emphasis was placed on physical fitness and strength training. Something Sinclair will keep a keen eye on as St. Lucia prepares for this year's Winner Island School Games. Now to Schools Cricket, an appending commencement of the Mass United Secondary Schools Cricket Tournament. Schools Sports Coordinator Isabel Alexander Markey anticipates another keenly contested competition and good cricket throughout. This year, our tournaments, we have extended our playing venues. So we have something like six venues and in terms of the PI playing field, the Wainfield at Monry-Pope, the Ballata playing field, Grozily playing field, the Larissus-Denry playing field and the Philip Mastner grounds. We have had the coaches working very integrally with the schools and also ensuring that those venues and schools are prepared for this year's tournament so that we get quality and standard in this year's tournaments. The tournament rolls off February 14th with the preliminary wrong schedule to end on March 4th, then on to the quarterfinals through to the finals that's tentatively set for March 20th. And as we end, here's this reminder to our aspiring youth leaders. The local tutor training, LOCT, is an intensive four-day course delivered by lead trainers with the content focusing on the value of leadership training and the overall development of young people. After this first phase, LOCTs will be given the opportunity to conduct voluntary training with young sport leaders, YSLs, for an additional five days. The LOCTs will receive mentored support from the lead trainers and to plan and prepare the YSL training as a team of trainers chairing responsibility for the delivery of the course. The LOCT training is based on a facilitative interactive approach giving responsibility to the LOCTs to be involved in their learning to equip them with the facilitation skills and teaching methodology required to deliver a young sport leaders course. So get involved and visit the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports at the Shrieky building up on Miku Street for more on this. That's where we wrap up from the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports. I'm Ryan O'Brien. Thanks Ryan. Spur and domestic agricultural production to meet local and international demand while reducing the region's food import bill is the focus of a powerful new data tool recently presented to agricultural decision makers at the OECS Commission. The OECS Trade Vista for Food and Agriculture Portal was presented by Dr. Patrick Antwine, the Special Advisor to the Director General of the Inter-American Institute for Corporational Agriculture, ICA. The portal is the first for the region and can rapidly provide on-demand trade and other related data through a single electronic platform which allows for targeted interventions within the food and agriculture sector. The OECS Trade Vista brings together international trade data from various sources into an analytical framework that allows for the identification of clear trading patterns of interest to the OECS in products and regions in the world that they have an interest in importing from and in exporting to. There are a number of nascent or small market opportunities that if we nurture well the OECS could cut its unemployment and would engage its youth population with innovative technologies. Some of those industries that we've seen, for instance, are in vegetables, lettuce, for instance, broccoli, kale, where there are tremendous imports from outside of the region. We see opportunities, for instance, in the poultry space where we're seeing a growing and significant volume of poultry products still coming in from outside. So the OECS by population only accounts for about half a million people in the caracom space. The OECS accounts for a disproportionate amount of food imports. There is an opportunity for us to meet this, what I would call these demand-pull factors with a ready source of innovative supply from an innovative people using the technology and innovation advances that have taken place. This run, which is going to later manifest in a more comprehensive trade tool for the member countries of the OECS that deals with all the trade, not just agriculture. For me, this is what the OECS and Economic Union has to be about. The intention is to utilize the trade portal to show all products imported, exported and trade occurring inter-regionally to not only have an empirical basis for making sound trade decisions, but to engage in associated negotiations. The world's climate is changing and that affects all of us. Storms are becoming increasingly intense. Periods of intense drought and heavy rain stress farm animals and destroy our crops. Higher average ocean temperatures kill our coral reefs and change the migratory patterns of fish. St. Lucia contributes only 0.0015% of global greenhouse gas emissions but is doing its part, along with countries around the world, to reduce the emissions that are warming our world and changing our climate. These efforts are called mitigation. But decades of emissions have already changed the climate and the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere today will increase average global temperatures even more. We need to adapt. That is, do everything we can to prepare for and respond to the actual and expected negative effects of climate change and everyone has a role to play. We need to protect our crops, build homes that withstand storms and keep our drains and waterways free of garbage to help us recover or bounce back from climatic events. Learn more about the Government of St. Lucia's National Adaptation Plan and the steps you can take to protect yourself and your fellow St. Lucia's. Francis Mindo Philip is being celebrated in a special way this weekend. A dedication of a Mindo Philip monument and a handover ceremony of the monument to the Castery's constituency council will take place at the Mindo Philip Park at 3 p.m. on Saturday 9 February 2019. The activity coincides with events for the observance of St. Lucia's 40th Independence Anniversary. Officials of Cricket West Indies, Government and Sporting officials, as well as members of the family of the late Mindo Philip, will be in attendance. This monument was erected in honour of Francis Mindo Philip, regarded as the greatest St. Lucia sportsman of his time, who represented St. Lucia in cricket and football in various capacities with distinction for over 25 years. And that brings us to the end of the NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7 p.m. with a repeat at 7 a.m. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel.