 Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre leads a government which has taken decisive action to redevelop podcast trees and the Souffre waterfront, increase St. Lucia's share of the multi-billion dollar cruise tourism industry, and ensure sustainable economic expansion. On August 2nd, 2023, Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre and Investment Minister Hon. Dr. Ernest Helais, on behalf of the government of St. Lucia, signed a landmark development agreement with Global Port Holdings, GPH. And we have to find ways to allow you to make the return on your investment, but we also have to find ways to make the people benefit. We must find ways for the people to benefit from these agreements. And this is the philosophical position of the government, and we make no excuses for it. There can be no agreement that doesn't involve the people of the country where the people will benefit. And I really thank you for understanding that. St. Lucia's history with GPH date back to 2017. Previous attempts to formalize agreements with the government have been unsuccessful until Prime Minister Pierre assumed office in 2021. A memorandum of understanding was signed in October 2022. Negotiations between GPH and the government and stakeholder engagements ensued. In less than 12 months, a mutually beneficial agreement was struck. None of our destinations, be it from Vietnam all the way to Bahama, we don't have a single expat working. It's all locals. If we can't find the human resources local, we take it, we train them and we bring them back. So that's our policy. Podcastries and the Castries Waterfront are airmarked for transformational redevelopment, which includes expanded birthing facilities to accommodate Oasis-class cruise ships, new duty-free and vending facilities, and the redevelopment of Bannans Bay. We certainly look forward with eager excitement to the immediate commencement of works and the implementation of the agreements. The Castries Waterfront will look a lot better with a redeveloped vendor's arcade. We've worked on improving the booth in our podcastries. Included also is the removal of the old customs building and the rationalization of that area there. Another exciting addition for me is the boardwalk that will be built from the vendor's arcade to the San Susi Bridge. I think it would create a whole new added experience for cruise passengers. Those of us who work on the waterfront will tell you when the cruise ships are there, hundreds, thousands of visitors walk to Castries City Centre and just having that experience along the waterfront to add to the experience of Castries will be something special. The Souffre Waterfront, although not included in GPH's original development plans, is now affixed in the final agreement thanks to strong lobbying efforts by the Minister for Commerce, who is also the Member of Parliament for Souffre-Font-Saint-Jean, the Honourable Emma Hippolet. I remembered very clearly my intervention. I want to say thank you to the Chairman of GPH for agreeing to include Souffre in this project. I want to thank the Honourable Prime Minister for agreeing because if he didn't agree then the project would not have taken place. For agreeing to include Souffre in this development. So today I can remember very clearly when I approached the people of Souffre in the election. My tagline was, together, let us transform Souffre-Font-Saint-Jean. And I'm pleased that this project will be an integral part of this transmission of Souffre. GPH is investing more than US $40 million into the project. St. Lucia has agreed to a 30-year concession with a potential 10-year extension option for the cruise-related operation. Once completed, the project would invite greater participation in the tourism sector by more St. Lucia's and also create new business opportunities for St. Lucia's tourism industry stakeholders. But I'm hoping that that experience and that development will more or less present itself as the catalyst for the social and economic development of the urban areas of chemistry. What is behind the veil of this new development that is taking place? In 2019, St. Lucia welcomed 790,000 cruise ship passengers. The completion of the GPH development project by 2025 is expected to lead to a rise in passenger volumes to more than 1 million in the near term.