00:01Minister of Culture Michelle Benjamin says in terms of safety and security for Carnival, nothing has been left to chance.
00:08This, as she says, apart from several meetings and consultations with various stakeholders, two multi-stakeholder planning meetings took place.
00:19The most recent would have been on the 4th of February to finalize security arrangements, operational logistics and emergency protocols
00:29for the entire Carnival period.
00:31Our partners have been firmly at the table throughout.
00:36The Minister says the Police Service, the Fire Service, the Port of Swain City Corporation and the Mayor's Office, the
00:43Radio Emergency Associated Communications Teams, the National Carnival Commission and the T&T Carnival Bands Association met up to yesterday.
00:52REACT is a non-profit organization which provides two-way radio communication services to support authorities and members of the
01:01public in situations such as natural disasters and emergencies as well as large community events.
01:09Additionally, funding of $100,000 was allocated to REACT, and this was not done because we didn't see that it
01:20wasn't something that we had to do, but it was something that was necessary in the sense that REACT radios,
01:26they were outdated.
01:29We were informed of this during one of our stakeholders' consultation.
01:34While the Minister was unable to say how many radios were purchased with the funds provided at the time of
01:41the press conference, she tells us she has no problem relaying the information later on.
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