 Welcome to the NTN Nightly. I'm Nisha Charles. This edition stops stories. St. Lucia takes steps to address the economic welfare and social well-being of involuntary returning migrants. The OECS lands are University of the West Indies campus. Using tourism as an economic development tool, all that plus the latest in youth development, sports, and the NTN Nouvelle Arquéon. The government of St. Lucia is taking steps to address the economic welfare and social well-being of involuntary returning migrants. Through the African, Caribbean, and Pacific ACP EU Migration Action Program, the Department of Home Affairs and National Security was presented with technical assistance products in support of involuntary returning migrants. The ACP EU Migration Program funded by the European Union provides technical assistance to African, Caribbean, and Pacific groups of states. The program, which is being implemented by the International Organization for Migration, provides assistance on five thematic areas of migration, remittances, visa, readmission, trafficking human beings, and smuggling of migrants. On Wednesday, June 26, a draft national policy and plan of action in support of involuntary returning migrants to St. Lucia and a case management database on readmission and reintegration of these migrants were presented to the Department of Home Affairs and National Security. Jermaine Grant is the program officer for the Caribbean ACP EU Action of the International Organization for Migration. The ministry posited that being the Ministry of Home Affairs just as a national security in their technical assistance request to the program that involuntary returning migrants, as mentioned often called deportees, are challenged because of societal perceptions and stereotypes that compound some forms of stigma and discrimination against them. The results are IRMs involuntary return migrants encounter difficulties during the reintegration process irrespective of whether they had familial connections in St. Lucia and irrespective of their ability to provide for themselves and dependents. Grant said that the draft policy and plan of action should serve as St. Lucia's international commitment on migration management in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals SDGs, notably target 10.7, which commits states to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people. A migration expert with the International Organization for Migration presented some of the data. So what we know about that, it's like 64% of those are coming from France and mainly from Artinique. But it's important to highlight there's a quite a significant portion coming from the Caribbean, which is 9%. That speaks about when we look at the regional on the region and also the regional treaties of free movement. It's important to take consideration of that. And in terms of the reasons of those readmissions, it's important to highlight that 77% are related to immigration violations. And this is very important because soon or later the government will be able also to illustrate that probably 70% of those people will be interested to integration. St. Lucia recognizes the need for available data of a policy, standard operating procedures and general guidance on the issues of readmission and reintegration of involuntary returning migrants, which will contribute to their socioeconomic integration. Come September, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, OECS, will be home to its first landed campus of the University of the Basindis, UV. OECS member state, Antigone Barbuda, will be home to the fourth landed UV campus, Five Islands. The announcement was made by the UV's Vice Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, during a press conference at the University's first campus at Mona, Jamaica. I'm honored to report that Chancellor Mr. Robert Bermudez and the Council of the University of the West Indies have formally approved the establishment of a campus of the University of the West Indies in Antigone and Barbuda. Within the wider context of the country's membership of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. Antigone Barbuda's Five Islands campus is set to open its doors in September of 2019 and welcome some 800 students. The majority of these 800 students are already registered in levels one and two of the University of the West Indies programs currently being delivered in Antigone and Barbuda under a franchise agreement at the Antigone State College and other territory institutions. Like its sister campuses at Mona, St. Augustine, Caefel and the Open Campus, the Five Islands campus will begin in a modest fashion and will no doubt rise to magnificent heights in the years to come. According to Sir Beckles, it is left to all within the region to be meaningful contributors to the growth of an important Caribbean institution. Our solidarity is now required more than ever as we build a new campus, be fit in the excellence of the University of the West Indies. With this action, the people of our region, the youth especially, will be better served. And that was Uwe's Vice Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles. A tourism luminary from the Bahamas has emphasized how tourism can be used as an economic development tool. Vincent Wallace-Vanderpool engaged participants at a recently opened symposium centered on tourism. The strategy he says should involve the citizenry and seek to develop a product of excellence. Janelle Norver reports. The words shared by guest speaker, former Minister for Tourism in the Bahamas and former Secretary General and CEO of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, Vincent Vanderpool Wallace, helped shape the conversation for the two-day National Tourism Symposium. The objectives included presenting preliminary findings of the consultancy underway to review and update the St. Lucia tourism benchmarking and competitiveness assessment strategy and action plan and to discuss new and emerging trends that might contribute to the growth and development in tourism in St. Lucia and to determine the best positioning for the island's marketing. Vanderpool Wallace indicated that one must firstly understand that tourism is an economic development tool. And let me start on about the economic development tool. What we are talking about also, what are the objectives of tourism? What are the critical ones? The critical ones are number one is foreign exchange. We're in the business to continue to grow our foreign exchange. Number two, we're in the business of growing employment. The third thing is broadening the distribution of income. You got to make sure that you're getting the broadest possible distribution of income coming into the economy because if you don't do that, you're going to find that a lot of people are saying you keep talking about this thing, I ain't feeling it. And what is very important is people begin to feel the effects of tourism throughout what you're doing. The next thing is talking about better linkages. Ministry fought to this already. Critically important in terms of making sure that you're establishing those linkages. And then of course, one of the things that Carolyn will talk about all the time is in terms of sustainability and the focus, particularly relating to the environmental issues and making sure that we are addressing those things as much as we possibly can. Also on the agenda, the formulation of new directions for sustainable tourism development in St. Lucia, while strengthening and improving on current initiatives that are of relevance. Vanderpult Wallace noted that one such initiative should include the sensitization of the citizenry on the importance of the island's tourism sector. Such an awareness is important as visitors interact more with citizens of the country, and if that interaction is good, it can have great benefits for the country. He also highlighted the importance of offering a good tourism product and the power of a recommendation. If people intend to recommend you, we have found the highest correlation between recommendation and people delivering value. Because in very many respects, one of the problems of people who want to wear the destinations is their island collectors. No matter how great the experience was on one island, they tend to go to other places or people are bucket list. I want to go to other places. What you really want them to do is to recommend the experience that they had hit other people and their friends and relatives. That's the most powerful thing and make sure we are looking at that number on an ongoing basis. And if we are not measuring these things on an ongoing basis, going back to the minister's point about data, if you're not measuring these things, you can't possibly know whether you're succeeding. The National Tourism Symposium commenced on Wednesday 26 June and culminated on Thursday 27 June 2019. For the Government Information Service, I am General Norville. And this is DNTN Nightly. Rhynne O'Brien is up next. Officials headed by Director General mandated to implement the decisions of the governments but also empowered to make recommendations on the strategic directions of the organization. The OECS Commission organizes meetings, prepares budgets, conducts research, undertakes projects, negotiates for and represents the OECS member states. It is organized along several components. There are the commissioners from each member state who along with the Director General form the commission that oversees the work programs. There are also technical divisions with specialized units between them as well as diplomatic missions in Brussels and Geneva. All these complement each other to make the OECS Commission the engine of regional integration in the eastern Caribbean. The OECS has a proud past and together we are working towards a brighter future for all our citizens. For more information visit www.oecs.org Welcome back. We join Rhynne O'Brien for the latest happenings in youth development and sports. Thanks Nisha. I'm Rhynne O'Brien and welcome once again to your update from youth development and sports on the NTN Nightly News. The annual CARICOM 10K road race on Sunday will showcase the Caribbean's top long distance runners and includes a 5K run walk from Marysil for secondary school students and a 1K for CARICOM diplomats and other dignitaries. Members of the public are invited to show their support for the road races which start from 7.30 a.m. Interested persons and groups can register at the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports to participate in the CARICOM 10K road race. CARICOM Secretary General Ambassador Irwin Larocke will co-host a forum with the Saint Lucia Youth Ambassadors, McAllister Hunt and EZB Francis to discuss current issues of significance to upcoming leaders and young activists around the region. The forum will begin from 5 p.m. on July 1st and carry live via social networks and electronic media. Final arrangements are falling into place for Friday's staging of the annual school sports awards scheduled for the St. Mary's College auditorium. The Ministry of Youth Development and Sports has announced that awards will be granted in both individual and team categories and announced that this year a special new award will go to the outstanding district in primary school sports. Students will also be vined for the prestigious titles of outstanding student sports personality of the year, male and female, as well as other overall team prizes. Friday's awards are said to get underway at 10 a.m. And that's all from Youth Development and Sports for today. I'm Ryan O'Brien. Thanks, Ryan. Quarantine Awareness Week is being observed under the theme Save God St. Lucia's Agriculture Don't Pack a Pest. According to the Agriculture Minister, Honourable Ezekiel Joseph, agriculture continues to be one of the major contributing sectors to the economy and must continue to be so if St. Lucia is to ensure food and nutrition security for itself. He says although there are increases in production of bananas, fruits, vegetables, root crops, poultry, small ruminants and pork, the agricultural sector is challenged by a number of issues. The constant threat of the introduction, establishment, and spread of pests and diseases can be viewed as one of the major challenges. This has been given top priority as changes in global trade, coupled with the increased movement of people in a changing climate, has also inadvertently increased the movement of pests and diseases. Over the years, the invasion of many pests and diseases has severely affected agricultural production, causing changes in production methods, loss of production, increased costs of production. Quarantine Awareness Week aims to educate St. Lucia on their role in safeguarding the country's agriculture sector and its borders and to launch the Don't Pack a Pest initiative. The government of St. Lucia continues to put measures in place to emphasize and ensure sanitary and phytosanitary requirements are adhered to. It is the hope of adopting a common standardized health approach to achieve good agricultural health, food safety, and security and by extension promoting good public health. In closing, I wish to advise all travelers to be mindful of the potential danger of bringing in animals, plants, and their products from abroad without the necessary permit as they can pose a serious threat to our agriculture and socioeconomic well-being. The St. Lucia Tourism Authority, SLTA, hosted its first-ever Global Peter Awards for the top producing St. Lucia expert travel agents from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. The agents were celebrated June 20th through June 24th with an immersive weekend showcasing the best that the island has to offer. Travel advisors who booked more than 300 room nights between March 2018 and March 2019 will recognize at the 2019 Global Peter Awards. The room nights booked were measured through the St. Lucia expert SLTA program created in partnership with Recommend Magazine. The SLTA program is a comprehensive free membership program and educational resource for travel advisors interested in selling St. Lucia to their clients at an expert level. The top 31 winners were honored with the prestigious award. Tonight, our job is really very simple. We just want to say thank you. Thank you to all of you for believing in our destination, for sending your people to our shores, and for really telling people at St. Lucia is an incredible place for them to come. I want to say a big thank you to all of you. The recipients include 15 winners from the United States, five winners from Canada, 10 winners from the United Kingdom, and Ireland. St. Lucia Tourism Authority's Senior Marketing Manager Jackie Mathera highlighted the importance of travel agents to the industry. We share an appreciation for how rapidly and profoundly that world travel is evolving, and we truly appreciate the work that you have been doing and there really is no absolute dollar amount that can be placed on your proven commitment to our destination. Your efforts have not only contributed to the awareness of this beautiful island, but have significantly contributed to our record-breaking year in 2018 and 2018, with over 1.2 million visitors. This reflects a 10.2 percent increase over the previous year. Thank you and it's all because of you. Global award winners got an opportunity to explore the island. They also were treated to an island party and a day of pampering at Pigeon Island. For the Government Information Service, I am General Norville. And stay with the NTN Nightly. Up next, Primers-Hudgensen is here with the NTN Nouvelle-Arcueille. Small household electrical appliances, when faulty, can give rise to big problems. If you have just purchased a small appliance from a store and you are concerned about the safety of the item, or an appliance has been at home for some time subjected to wear and tear from regular usage, have it tested by the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards. It is better to be safe than sorry. For more information, contact the St. Lucia Bureau of Standards at 456-0546 or email slbs.candw.lc or visit the website at www.slbs.org.lc. St. Lucia Bureau of Standards, making quality and standards our way of life. Welcome back. We join Primers-Hudgensen for the NTN Nouvelle-Arcueille. Hello, I am Primers-Hudgensen, Minister of National Security and Police. I am here to discuss a situation that is critical for the country. It is important for the citizens of this country to be aware of this situation, because you will not be able to avoid it. According to the ASP Louis Gale-Clack, who is the Special Branch of the Police Organization, the situation here is very critical for the government and the police. Because it is very important for the citizens of this country to be aware of this situation. Therefore, I can connect with the families who have lived here before, and I can also connect with the community who have lived here. But for such a long time, I can connect with the people who have lived here before leaving this country. Madam Clack declared that what has been done presently is for the citizens of this country to find a way to help the citizens of this country to live and to establish a country. We have to be aware of this situation, and to find ways to help the citizens of this country to live and to establish a country. We must be aware of this situation, and to find ways to help the citizens of this country to live and to establish a country. The police have a lot of security as we poor take care of pallets and months off. They serve a cafe to view and then your life is a failure. It's the poor, the poor, the security. It's a fault, it's the fault you take care of. It's a program that you take care of. It can cause, certainly see, that less and months off, the poor security has delayed you, knowing organization with social transformation who can help you, to save your life, buy you a house, make you happy, and assist you in pleasing a lot of money. Special branch is the police division which is the main reason for conducting an investigation on national security, HODMovequim. The representative of HODDiverse, Department of Government, I found a way to plan a financial event to form a name for a country that can help assist others. Department of Government, which has a lot of responsibility for this situation, I have established my project to help address all these problems, among what is most necessary is to establish and create my equalities, among these forms of names to try to correct the problem of education among the names, to pursue more employment, and surprisingly, to try to encourage the situation that we do not have, it is only that we have the responsibility to deal with them. Coordinator for this project, Claudier-Louis, said that this is the way of the government and that it is even possible that the Department can follow this project to a certain point in time. So, there is already a quality training to examine these jobs with the help of HODMovequim, which has a lot of problems with these jobs that existed. I would like to leave this here, I would like to continue to start with the offices of the Department of Labor and also the civil services of the Department of Labor and the agencies to develop these jobs. Minister Kiyosuka, to provide information about the new direction for this touristic effect. According to the Department of Touristic Affairs, Aviva-Saint-Claire, this initiative is to develop a better direction for development of touristic effects in the country. According to the announcement that the Ministry of Labor works the same way, and that it is the Vilka Street to pursue financial assistance to improve the Vilka Street. The Minister has also committed to prove to you in Vilka Street, and William Peter Boulevard. He has also made arrangements for the Ministry of Labor to provide a better way to control the traffic in Vilka Street. Minister Kinyosuka, to provide information about the new direction for development of touristic effects. According to the Department of Touristic Affairs, this initiative is necessary to help the economy so that it is easy for the government to finish the program. According to the Ministry of Labor, this initiative is more advanced because it is the most expensive in the country. But this initiative is the only way to help the industry here. This initiative is the only way to help the industry here. I would like to thank the Minister for the great effort to support us to slow down the production of new traffic. I am very grateful to the Minister. Thanks for your time, Prime Minister. And here's a look at what's happening to us weatherwise. Moisture and instability associated with a weak tropical wave will cause some cloudy periods with showers over the lesser Antilles during the next 24 hours. The tropical wave located over the central tropical Atlantic is moving westward near 23 miles per hour or 37 km per hour. This wave is expected to affect the southern part of the Les Antilles on Friday into Saturday. A tropical wave located over the far eastern tropical Atlantic is moving westward at about 23 miles per hour or 37 km per hour. The cyclone formation is not expected over the tropical Atlantic during the next five days. The tide's forecastry's harbor was low at 506pm and will be high at 1143pm. The tide's for Viewfort Bay was high at 1259pm and was low at 633pm. The seas are moderate to locally rough with waves 5-7 feet or 1.5-2.1 meters. Small craft operators and sea bathers are advised to exercise caution due to brisk winds and above normal seas. The sun will rise Friday at 5.38am. And that brings us to the end of the NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7pm with a repeat at 7am. You can also catch up with us anytime on the Saint Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I'm Nisha Tras.