A New York contingent of approximately 25 West Indian media workers were yesterday updated on Guyana's preparations for its hosting of six super-eight matches in the 2007 International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup (ICC CWC) matches between March 28 and April 9.

The North American media arrived in Guyana on Thursday on Travel Span's inaugural flight here and were joined by several local journalists at a press conference at the new cricket stadium at Providence , following a tour of the facility.

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony informed that the name of the stadium was the ‘Guyana National Stadium' and not the Providence Stadium, which is incorrectly being used both locally and internationally. He said the name has not been changed, explaining that the wrong name was being used.

Finance/Ticketing Manager of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Chateram Ramdihal told Kaieteur Sports that he was not aware that any official announcement was made about the ‘new' name of the East Bank Demerara facility. He however assured that correspondence will be made shortly correcting the name. At present the ICC refers to the venue as the Providence Stadium, this name is also used by the cricinfo web site and all other media agencies.

Ramdihal and Minister Anthony were accompanied at yesterday's press briefing by Minister in the Ministry of Health Dr. Beri Ramsarran, Programme Officer of UNICEF (Guy)Dennis Arends and UNAIDS' Ruben del Prado.

Earlier in the day a sign counting down the final 100 days to CWC was unveiled by Minister Anthony at the Southern end of the Main Street Avenue. According to the Minister this initiative was to promote a heightened public awareness for the mega event and explained that each day the sign will be changed to show the number of days to go.

Minister Anthony spoke of the several developments taking place in the country as it prepares for CWC and provided a detailed list of objectives needed to be completed and updated the visiting delegation on their stage of completion.

It was explained that the main area of concern at the stadium was the practice pitches. He said the rain is affecting the preparation of the practice pitches just behind the player's dressing room at the stadium and informed that a temporary roof will be build over the area to facilitate work during the expected rainy season.

The Minister, who gave a ‘power-point' presentation of the stages of the stadium construction from the beginning to its present state, also spoke about the various aspects of Guyana's preparation and said the LOC (of which he is the Chairman) was looking forward to all the assistance it can get from the public, media (here and abroad) and the business community.

The LOC head said in his opinion, TERRAFORMA, the company contracted to build the field and the pitch, has done a good job. The power-point presentation showed that the match pitches were completed and the field was ‘second to none'.

Minister Anthony said the rain would help the field to become more solid since the high sand content in the soil was a cause for concern when the ICC venue development team visited here on November 16.

The health Minister spoke about Guyana 's preparations in the area of health for the event and it was disclosed that each stand at the stadium would have a separate health outpost in the event a spectator fell ill. Ambulances will also be available to transport persons to hospital.

Arends said UNICEF was pleased that in 2003 the ICC became the first global sporting body to enter into an official partnership to fight against the spread of AIDS, remarking that the majority of people living with AIDS came from ICC full-member counties. He pointed out India and South Africa have the highest population of AIDS cases among the cricketing nations and noted that international cricketers have pledged their public support for the programme to help prevent the epidemic from spreading.

Minister Anthony interacted with the New York based journalists and a number of suggestions and observations were discussed. A major concern to the visitors was the lack of proper promotion of Guyana in the USA as a tourist destination for the World Cup.

It was pointed out that Guyana need to use their former cricketers more in promotional campaigns and need to advertise what Guyana has to offer to the North American public.

The Sports Minister promised to spare o effort to involve former players and informed that Clive Lloyd is a member of the LOC.

It was revealed that the lack of funds was preventing many aspects of Guyana 's overseas promotion.

Guyana 's representative for Travel Span explained that the entity is the only accredited West Indian tour operator for the World Cup. He informed that the agency was working along with the LOCs in Trinidad and Tobago and St Lucia . He lamented that several letters have been sent to the Guyana LOC informing of a willingness to assist in promoting Guyana as a tourist destination.