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Contact:
Chris Satney
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Carnival revellers on the Streets of
Castries |
Monday, July 23, 2007 – Two Government Ministers have hailed this
year's Carnival celebrations a huge success. The Ministers of Culture and
Tourism both spoke with the GIS following the climax of Carnival celebrations
last week.
Minister for Education and Culture Honourable Arsene James, for his part,
commended highly, the level of public support for all of the activities.
“And I think the reason for this is because a lot of money was pumped into this
year's carnival activities and I must say thanks to the Ministry of Tourism and
the foresight of the Minister of Tourism, who by all indications, was the one
who ensured there was enough money to go around to increase prises and so on,
said the minister.”
Meantime Minister for Tourism Senator the Honourable Allen Chastanet said, as
one of the leading cultural events in the country, every effort should be made
to advance carnival's development. He announced that a three year financial plan
has been put in place to allow for greater expansion and development of the
island's main cultural show-piece.
According to Mr. Chastanet, much of the investment for carnival this year was to
improve overall production of the event.
He said, “I am of a personal disdain for whenever we conduct anything and we see
St. Lucian talent having to perform on a mediocre stage—bad lighting and bad
sound—so it gives the impression that we are all third world. I think the talent
here and the commitment is too strong to have had this happen. The writers came
out in a very big way and the music received international recognition.”
The Tourism Minister is of the opinion that saint Lucia has the potential to
develop a unique product fitting for the international market. He said the
process has begun and the level of local participation is clear evidence of that
direction. Government pumped over 1 Million dollars into the 2007 carnival
festivities.
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