 It was a momentous occasion on Thursday, July 1, 2021, when Kakosetli Si officially opened its doors to the public. The artisanal chocolate factory located at Belvedere Canaries handcrafts its chocolate nib, bar, and truffle to create an inimitable cocoa experience for its patrons. Maria Jackson, Operations Manager and owner of Kakosetli Si, has a background in confectionery as a pastry chef. She envisions Kakosetli Si will amplify the village's tourism product. We offer four experiences. They start from a bean to bar orientation tour and that basically is just a familiarization of the nature of how chocolate is made, understanding the quality of the product, from inception of harvesting to the final packaging and wrapping of the chocolate. A lot of attention is placed into that. So we want our guests to get that sort of understanding of that chocolate process. The other experience we offer is workshops. So the workshop basically is an in-depth, giving our customers or clients an in-depth understanding of how the chocolate is made and actually getting the opportunity to make it themselves. Established in 2015, Kakosetli Si went from a cottage industry operation to occupying a 200-square-foot building consisting of a production wing, retail area, workshop space and restaurant. When in full operation, the company hopes to employ 25 individuals from the community contributing to its economic development. Kakosetli Si also aspires to become one of Seendusha's leading export brands. Export Seendusha Chief Executive Officer, CEO Sunita Daniel, says Export Seendusha is working with the business to assist it in realizing that dream. We've been with Kakosetli Si from the very beginning because we've recognized the potential of the product to really go into the export markets and the international markets. So we've actually assisted them with packaging and branding and we've done some market research. We've actually taken them on a mission with us to the UK to look at what the market is like and I can tell you that the market for chocolates is in the billions of US dollars now and so we are actually not making full use of the market out there and so we're very happy that an authentic small company like Kakosetli Si could actually make that move and so we've here to support them and to ensure that they get into the international markets. Minister for Tourism, Information and Broadcasting, Culture and Creative Industries and Parliamentary Representative for Ancillary Canaries Hon. Dominic Fady says the opening of Kakosetli Si creates opportunity for the revitalization of the cocoa industry in the community of Canaries. Their success is going to help all of our success. It's going to help the cocoa farmers in Sufra. It's going to help the cocoa farmers in Miku South and cocoa farmers all over St. Lucia and I am just so inspired and I'm sure that so many of you are inspired by this. The Ministry of Tourism is very proud of the small part that we have played in making sure that the concessions available for this facility was approved by the cabinet so thank you the chairman of our cabinet Mr Prime Minister for your support in making sure that this small business enjoys the same tax breaks that many large companies in St. Lucia do enjoy. The community of Canaries has been the home of an icicle and curing factory both of which were foreign owned. The opening of locally owned and operated Kakosetli Si places significant focus on the empowerment of young women in the community. From the Government Information Service, I am Hermione Mark reporting.