 Welcome to NTN Nightly, I am Genelle Norville. This edition stops stories. Plans for home cruise sporting viewport are advancing despite the impact of COVID-19. COVID-19 prevention and control protocols are extended to the end of May. And Prime Minister the Honourable Alan Chastney looks forward to critical changes in Caricam with a new Secretary-General. Prime Minister the Honourable Alan Chastney has completed the first week of a two-week quarantine period following his official travel to Miami, Florida on May 5, 2021. There, Prime Minister Chastney held talks with the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association on the plans for the home cruise sporting viewport. Honourable Chastney provided details during an appearance on the GIS weekend wrap-up program. Prime Minister Honourable Alan Chastney, having returned from official travels, provided an update on several projects which he indicated will be of major benefit to the country and the cruise industry. Highlighting other cruise spots in the region, the Prime Minister noted that given the increase in the size of cruise ships, cruise lines now require more than one home port, as such St. Lucia would make for a valuable addition. Another infrastructural project on the cards for St. Lucia is that of the UNR International Airport. Honourable Alan Chastney explained how that project complemented the southern home port. The decision was to move the terminal perpendicular or off to the side of the bottom of the Cacabeth as we know it. What that would have allowed us to do is the following. One is to build a new airport without interfering with the day-to-day operations of the existing terminal. And that once the new airport is finished, the goal is to convert the old airport specifically into a charter hall, but one designed very much in mind of home port. So what would happen is passengers would arrive off of the flight into the existing HIA terminal, which would be reconfigured. And passengers would not be clearing customs and immigration in that facility, but they in fact would be doing is being processed to get into their cabin. So they would get their room keys, they would put all their credit card information, etc. And literally when they leave that terminal to the new to the ship, which is only about a mile and a half away, we actually would be just going straight to their cabin and their bags would have been sent in advance. Prime Minister Honourable Alan Chastney explained that the cruise industry is very excited about this venture as it offers additional benefits, including the close proximity of the port to a dedicated terminal, aiding significantly with logistics, saving time, money and creating a better customer environment. He added, however, that the venture has not been without its challenges. The difficulty that we've had, Lisa, was one overcoming the current financial status of the cruise industry. And secondly, that the cruise companies wanted to be satisfied that they were sufficient tours available from view forward to service the remaining passengers. Because as I indicated to you, not all of the passengers getting on the ship would be coming on from solution. So there would be other passengers who arrive on that same ship and would be going on an excursion for the day. And so we've been working very closely with them to give them the assurance, one, that Sufer is actually closer to view forward, substantially closer to view forward than castries. It means that there's extra time that persons can stay in in Sufer and what are some of the new tours that we're doing in the Sufer area. The second one is the opportunity for new tours between view forward and Sufer, as well as between view forward and Dennery. The prime minister explained that the meetings also encompass talks with technical personnel to iron out the final details of the agreement. However, more formal pronouncement will be made at a later date. I will be making a more formal pronouncement, hopefully in the beginning of June. And I'm hoping that the MOU between the cruise industry and Sub-Mushab would have reached the point where we can sign it. So those are the details that we're working on. I felt it was important to walk to Miami because this has been one of the projects that we started from day one. And I certainly want to see it through its fruition before elections. The home cruise spot will be strategically located in VA4, in close proximity to the UNR international airport, giving St. Dusha a competitive edge. From the Government Information Service, Humadi Mark reporting.