 With a continued thrust towards increasing the food security and sustainability of the nation, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development, in collaboration with the Taiwan Technical Mission, recently held a mango festival at Constitution Park to promote the use of local mango. The event featured a wide variety of mangoes, with 24 participants given a platform to promote their mango products, which included mango powder, mango syrup, mango pops and mango body butters. A component of the festival also included a mango culinary competition for students enrolled in the Women Empowerment Programme at the Sir Afaloos Community College, of which the winners were given an opportunity to display their dishes at the festival. Ambassador of the Republic of China Taiwan to St. Lucia, His Excellency Peter Chai and Chen offered the Government of Taiwan support for continued collaboration to ensure food security remains a priority. With climate change affecting the world at a fast growing pace, we must learn to appreciate the value of what nature gives us, including the food, and we must learn to appreciate the value of turning wastage into creative business ideas. Through the festival, the harvested mangoes and other local fruits can be used more creatively and appreciated more. And I wish to thank the Ministry of Agriculture for consistently partnering with the Taiwan Technical Mission to create programs that promote agricultural diversity and food security. The joint collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Taiwan Technical Mission also saw the launch of a redesigned mango recipe book featuring dishes from chefs around the island as well as Taiwanese cuisine. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development, Honourable Alfred Prosper, notes that in addition to promoting the consumption of local products, the Ministry is working to improve the production processes through the development of processing plants. The Ministry has paired the Food Security Drive by undertaking initiative such as this one where we promote the use of local products and their use as viable alternatives and substitutes. Mango is a very versatile fruit and can be used in the green form, ripe or dried, and can be used in many other ways such as smoothies, juices, salads, purées, ice creams and for garnishing etc. During the mango season we often hear the lamentation of our people as to why there are so many mangoes wasting away at the side of our roads. Definitely we are unable to consume all of those fruits during the ripening window. This therefore calls for more processing facilities, more storage and of course reiterates the need for sale and export strategy. Minister Prosper encouraged the public to discover innovative ways to include mango in their diet as we work to strengthen the country's food security and sustainability. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anisia Antoine reporting.