 Good morning everyone. I'd like to invite Kimberly to the front as we begin with a word of prayer. Chabriol Stanty, so here is your front prayer. Please you sign yourselves. And we are so grateful for you, for our inner struggle. We come back today to be here for such a moment, this occasion, this evening tonight. I pray that your will is then here with all. And most of all may you continue to bless Caribbean friends for the meeting for having a father-to-be, this will be the cause of safety tonight. Continue to bless the group as well, that they've accomplished everything that they'd like to do and to allow him to flourish in their endeavors as well. Thank you so much for Honourable Minister Emma. He put it for being now on this as well. Appears upon and on the staff for being here with us to share and to enjoy this wonderful moment to see very much. Continue to be with us and have your way this morning, which is the evening experience. Amen. Thank you very much. Please be seated. Honourable Emma Hippolit, Minister in the Ministry of Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Corporatives and Consumer Affairs. Mr. Xavier de Musak, the Chief Executive Officer of Caribbean Grains. Mortimer de Musak, Director of SORIDAN. Great. Mr. Osman Devi, Manager of Caribbean Grains Limited. Dr. Stephen King, Representing Rice St. Lucia. Honourable Priest Kailash Leos, Representing Ubuntu Movement. We have our Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce. Mr. Charmin Louis Justin, Director of Consumer Affairs. Mr. Wendy Frederick. Other members of staff from the Ministry of Commerce. We have management and staff from Caribbean Grains Limited. Venus, thank you our videographer. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. It's really a pleasure to be here in the south today and to have this brief check hand over ceremony. Every now has a beginning and how did it begin? Caribbean Grains submitted an application to participate in the 16th Annual St. Lucia Taiwan Partnership Trade Show. And since the company is not small, it's not micro or medium, it was a challenge. But like we have done in the past, we made exceptions for certain entities or companies to participate. And we allowed Caribbean Grains participation because we believe that it was an opportunity for the company to create some brand awareness. Because quite a few persons in St. Lucia, they are not aware that there is a flour mill located in St. Lucia, right here in Fufot, where flour is actually produced here. And we felt it important that our people, for them to be aware of that fact, and they could buy local because as part of our love St. Lucia campaign, we at the Ministry of Commerce, we assist businesses to present their products so persons can know that these products are made right here. So it was a great opportunity for Caribbean Grains to participate in the St. Lucia Taiwan Partnership Trade Show. And stemming out of that participation, Caribbean Grains pledged that all of the proceeds from the sale of its Quasso and other similar products would have been donated for charitable cause or purpose. However, the company then changed and many of our participants, many persons who visited the trade show, you know were treated with free Quasso during the trade show, so we're very grateful for that. And Caribbean Grains decided that every package of flour sold, the money would be donated. So coming out of the company's participation was very beneficial for us and so we're very happy. And the company agreed to make that donation to the Ubuntu movement. And that movement, Ubuntu, that's the movement that manages the seed resource center in Viewfort. And that resource center was recently established and has a very important purpose. And that is to develop our young people in Viewfort because we are all aware of the level of crime and we believe that one of the crime fighting measures is to engage our youth and show that they are engaged in productive activities so that they can make a positive difference. And we are very happy to be here today. Caribbean Grains has kept his promise and will be handed over that check to the Ubuntu movement representative in a while, that's Honorable Preskelish Leos will be receiving that check on behalf of the young people and the resource center, the seeds resource center in Viewfort. At this moment I want to also apologize on behalf of Honorable Dr. Kenny Anthony who is the parliamentary representative of Viewfort South. Regrettably Dr. Anthony is unable to join us today because he's currently out of state. So I'd like to express his apologies for not being part of this very important ceremony this morning. At this time I would like to invite Mr. Eddie Antoine from Caribbean Grains to deliver some brief remarks. Who and what is Caribbean Grains? Caribbean Grains, we are the manufacturer of animal feed and flower. Why we head to the Caribbean Grains, we operate in Viewfort, we manufacture in Viewfort and we operate but we also supply the entire island. What we look at when you, the reason we are donating towards this project is that how we look at it is crime is like, for example, a bottle of Grammar Zone and you pour it down in a river. Where you pour that bottle of Grammar Zone is going to affect that particular area. However it's going to be diluted in that water and it's going to go down to the river. You will not see it but it's affecting many other areas. So yes the crime is in Viewfort, the crime is heavy in Viewfort but it's going to affect the entire island, it's going to affect the entire economy of the island. We operate on the island, we operate within the economy and how we see it is that we want to give back to help out the economy and help out. So how do we do it? We help those movements that are going to target those people that are, I would say, thank you. At this time I'd like to invite Honorable Priest Kailash Leos from the Ubuntu movement to deliver some brief remarks and after Honorable Priest Kailash I'd like to invite Dr Stephen King who will speak on behalf of Rice in Lucia. Bless your love. Give thanks for life. As I'm the critical husband established, I would still like to acknowledge our Honorable Minister. You can arrogant as usual. Give thanks to the CEO of Mr Dimusak and your party and all other officials, the permanent secretary, Honorable. Viewfort is, I'm from the library, you know, so Viewfort basically was the place I used to. My sister, you know, was in customs when I just left school and she was in the free zone when I was 19. You know, so Viewfort was the place that I knew as my city. So when we heard what was happening in Viewfort after it came to the point whereby you had babies actually passing, being murdered, you know, it touched my wife sincerely to the point that, you know, we had to actually see what we could do to help to alleviate the situation. So that is how myself and Rice, Dr King, you know, and also Mr Dan Paul and Bertie Jean came together and from the inception of Common Interview Fort, our first step was just speaking with the women, the women from Bruceville, the women from West Hall, the women from Martin Luther King Street, and everyone just wanted peace, everyone wanted to live peacefully. And from that, you know, they actually urged the men and them. The men and them asked that they actually come together and have what we refer to as a ceasefire with understanding. So from March 2023, after six months, you know, we were blessed to actually see some statistics from the Prime Minister's office that showed that there was a sharp decrease in violence in Viewfort and criminal activity. So not just only murders, for six months, there was nobody actually getting shot in a space whereby you had people dying one, two every single day. So what we realized is that just by being able to come into a space whereby you could show a level of empathy and understanding to the plight of other people and go into the space and help to empower them. The Sears Resource Center came out of conversation with Dr King because he says, well, but, Chris, when we've been going everywhere, we go and we try to solve the crime and it cannot solve anything. So we really want to do something different in Viewfort and let Viewfort be that particular space. So I wrote to the Prime Minister, he actually brought us in. Mr Ernest, he led the Commission of Police and the Prime Minister's office has been very supportive from the inception. He said, Chris, you know, go in whatever little we could do to support, we are going to help you. We are going to support it. We met the business community and found out that only five percent of the staff, of any of the major business establishments are employees coming out of Viewfort. So we cannot bear with 500 staff, only 25 of them also are from Viewfort. So the Sears Resource Center then embarked upon a training program every other Wednesday whereby we employed the human resource manager of KFC, also of Massey. We employed them of other, what we call capacity building groups to come into the resource center, even simple CPR, just to see how to help someone who is in a difficult situation. And to see the participants, people who are upset, angry, demonstrating their certificates proudly, on their status instead of a moment later and death and violence, is something that few others actually want to continue and have a space whereby the people could actually come and get empowered. Not that we want Caribbean grains just to give people more jobs. We want the people within the area to build up the capacity whereby they could contribute better to whatever Caribbean grains are doing and the other companies. So I give thanks for that opportunity, you know, and I pray that, as you said, the relationship it grows because one of the things that's happening right there in Bruceville is pig farming. You know, and we, one of the projects that we are embarking on is a biogas system because most of the feces that comes from the pig farm goes right back into the water supply. So we say why don't we take the same waste, put it into a chamber and then produce gas that could be actually passed upon to the people that are less fortunate. So seeds is not just only about education, it's also about economic empowerment because if you could tell a young man how long it takes a pig to get material from both to slaughter. About six months. So in the initial step, when we were speaking to the young man, they never wanted to live. The priest, what do you say, anything, anything. But when a man gets a pig today and he has to raise it for six months, at least he wants to see that six months period. And if he gets another 50, he wants to see that other six months period. So these people who did not want to live now wants to live, right? Because they're taking care of the pigs. So this nightly, I give thanks again and I can see where that partnership could actually grow. And give thanks, another minister, you know, for having us and give thanks for welcoming us into your space. And we pray that, you know, whatever that we are doing could partner because seeds represent that partnership, that space, you know, whereby people could come together and help to uplift whatever we are doing down there. So, give thanks. Good morning. We have protocol being established. Minister Heplet, I'm great to see you. Moussa de Musak, thank you. I'm staff of Caribbean grain, staff of the ministry. And of course, my partner and brethren, Honorable Preskeilash. It's good to be here this morning. And to take off from where Preskeilash left off, this would be the third time that Rice and Moussa would be involved in interventions to reduce violence in Viewfort. When what transpired in Viewfort, which was shocking to so many people, and I got called by some of my mobilizers on the ground to intervene, and I was told that Preskeilash is on as well. He's absolutely right. If we're going to do something, let's do something sustainable. Going and talking to people to have a ceasefire and not offering a change of environment for them is really just a temporary solution and not the answer. The Seeds Foundation was therefore born. To me, it is the first real intervention like that. Our human resource development centers were built to do that as well but never truly did, Madam Minister. The Seeds Resource Center is doing that. And it is when we mobilized the various communities that were being tragically hurt by the violence, and Preskeilash will remember at the South Lewis Community College conference room, telling them that the future of this country shall rise out of Viewfort. And I don't say that lightly. Viewfort has all that is required to set a new way, a new trajectory. Viewfort has some assets of which Caribbean grains is one. We have a business forum, and I'm so pleased to bring Caribbean grains into that fold to create a new environment, an all-inclusive environment that understands that our youth get involved in violence because they themselves are victims of a system. A system that traumatizes, has traumatized our youth from generations and continues to traumatize them in a psychological way, such that they have almost a don't care, a family attitude to life, to their life, and to other lives. And that is born of significant trauma. How do you address that? Creating that positive environment, creating that trauma-sensitive environment, understanding these youth, how they think, and what needs to happen. And that is what we can do in Viewfort with your help. And that's what we've started doing. But that is not an easy road. It is a continuous process because you cannot just say that and walk away. You have to be there with them the whole way. And we are doing that. We are going to do that. And you will see Viewfort rise. You will see Viewfort be a model. That is my vision and that is my hope. I want to thank the Honourable Dr. Kenny Antony because he called me after you spoke to him, P.S., about this particular initiative. And he said, look, bring Caribbean grains on. This is the beginning of something. And I see so much opportunity creating new flowers. We are talking about cassava flowers, growing cassava, creating new animal feed, creating new businesses, creating new opportunities. We can do great things, Mr. Domosa. Great things. It's all in our mindset. And everything is in our creativity and our innovation. And that's what I see here this morning. Thank you ever so much. Honourable Chris Kailashleos and Dr. Stephen King, I sat there and, wow, I'm just overwhelmed now with hope. And you are very busy. And you could just take some time and think less of yourself and making more money and profits. And to do this for the young people, it is really commendable. And I really want to appeal to other persons because crime is our business. It impacts us all. We cannot just go to our home and turn on our alarm system and close our door and think that, you know, we have created that wall because we don't live only in one space. So crime is our business and we must come together. The business community, civil society, everyone must come together to fight crime. So thank you very much. And continue the excellent work that you have come in. And this time I'd like to invite Mr. Osman Divi to deliver some brief remarks on behalf of... Oh, that wasn't by any. Sorry, my apologies, Mr. Divi. Yeah, I don't want to have you. My apologies. Yes. So it would be our pleasure, Mr. Xavier de Moussa, the CEO of Caribbean Greens, to deliver some brief remarks. Welcome. Well, thank you very much to all of you. Thank you very much, Minister. I'm very bad at speech. I'm very happy that you're all here. I'm very happy that we can move forward in helping the VO4 community. We have what we do here, as we mentioned, we have a school for bakeries, I mean, VO4 people, but also all the islands. As you might know also, we have the CQML, which is the Processing Plan, on which we are potential, huge potential to grow new job and new activities. I think we have a deal with the jail, taking people from the jail, taking them out and bringing them out of where they are and learning them new business so that they don't have to go back into the crime, basically. And I would say that going a little bit more forward, I'm very much... I don't know if you're saying English, but in favor of looking at the caricom, and mainly the OECS, in a different way, with the French West Indies. I always say that. I'm a bit of like the old records, where it's always saying the same thing. The French West Indies are wealthy. They have issues with their land because there's some poison in the land and the manpower is too expensive to do the YAM production. And we import in Martinique between 3,000 and 4,000 tons of YAM every year. And guess from where it comes from? Not from the OECS. From Nicaragua. And you guys here, you put a stone in the land. I mean, I'm not speaking of Antigua, but St. Lucia, or St. Vincent, or Dominica, you put a stone in your earth and the tree grows. So this type of things is a must to develop because the French West Indies are more or less on board with the OECS. And you guys can grow that here. We need to get some more... We're not in agriculture, so it's difficult for us to do it. But that's a discussion we had with our farmers, with our broiler farmer, because they have a lot of manure, so they could grow that. But a lot of people could do it. You know, 3,000 tons of YAM, it's a lot of YAM to be produced every month. And it's a lot of job that can be given. And it is not... I mean, it needs to be at the proper price, but it is not... It doesn't need to be subsidized like the banana was subsidized in Greece. This is something that... And when you speak of Martin, you can... I can tell you Barbados is so dry that they need it also. And St. Martin and St. Barth and Antigua and all the other islands. So once we can grow something here, and we are sitting on the market of 1.5 million people when you take the OECS, Barbados and the Fresh West Indies. So it's quite a decent market on which we can grow things where you guys are stronger and then Martin and Antigua look maybe stronger. And things like this. So it's really a must that we look into that and that would help for sure. You know, you are young guys that don't know where to go, what to do except doing foolish things. So, you know, our idea here is obviously to develop this farming, develop the feed mill, develop the boiler and the pork. After that we are going to get into the pork to promote the pork. We need obviously help of the government to protect the local production. Because that is especially on the chicken and everything, we really need some help. We know that we have enemies who are the people importing finished products. But, you know, you cannot have a country with only trading. How are you going to, the people on the supermarket, how are they going to buy as if nobody has an income. So we really need to push the agriculture forward. Because that is one of the main way to create a job. And obviously also the bakery. We need to develop, as I was explaining to the minister, is that in Martinique and Webloop when we arrived there was hardly any shops. So it was all the bakeries were in the garage and things like this. We have brought them, this is over 10-15 years but we have brought them to a totally different way. So they have shops and instead of only selling bread which is profitable. But it's not as profitable as doing a little, you know, selling sandwiches or pizza and things like this. And people love it because instead of going to Kentucky Fried Chicken you have a very nice food that can be made locally by local people and it makes the bakers, you know, make more money and it gives ideas to other people to develop this kind of business. So there's a lot of potential to grow for Saint-Lucie and we're very, very happy to bring and help everybody into this challenge. Sorry, I hope I was not too long. Mr. Démoussan, can I really help you here today? When you see the line item in the budget which says donation or contribution going forward to the Ubuntu Movement for the Seeds Resource Center you will appreciate the value of every dollar in that budget. At this time I'd like to invite our Honorable Minister, Minister Emma Higelit, and the Minister is responsible for commerce, manufacturing, business development, cooperatives and consumer affairs. We invite him and Honorable Minister to deliver some brief remarks. Good morning all. Again I want to take this moment to welcome Mr. Démoussan here with us. As a CEO I think it is extremely important that the Lord has brought you here but it's a very important ceremony. I want to recognize Honorable Prish Kailash. I want to recognize Dr. King, Mr. Davie, Mr. Atouan and the other senior members of the Caribbean Drains as well as our PS, Ministry of Commerce, DPS, Ministry of Commerce. We have our HR Commerce. We have Wendy and the others from Consumer Affairs. So I'm the senior staff of the ministry, our press person who is here with us. Good morning all. As I stand here I believe I can bring a greeting from our Honorable Prime Minister, from the Cabinet of Ministers, and especially from the two parliamentary reps representing Pewfort. And that is Dr. Kennedy Antonini and Honorable Moses Moussa Jabatis. Especially for what has actually brought us here, I know with our various conversations with Dr. Antonini, I know that issue impacting Pewfort such as at the core. You speak with him and you can see that he really wants a transformation. Yes, so the people of Pewfort for approximately 25 years or so, five terms, and he really wants us to move from where we are now, especially as it impacts families and our young persons. So I know he really would have liked to be here today at this ceremony. As well for Minister Jabatis because the two constituencies are connected. And we are here and we've heard all the conversation. As the Minister for Commerce, I'm extremely pleased to be here because what I'm seeing is what we've been asking. The partnership between private sector, civil society, and government. And today I want to take a moment to thank in a big way the Honorable Prishke Lash from the Wutu Movement and Dr. King from Rice and Lucia. I want to thank you for the work that you have done in the past and you continue to do in terms of transforming the lives of our young people. And you said it better than I when I listened to you and said that it's the environment where they came from has shaped them. And I remembered some almost 50 years ago. So I don't want to say about my age, but I can do it. But some 50 years ago I could remember being in Souffre and looking at the environment and I had my sister at the time was a teacher and she used to come home and discuss the challenges in the school. And I just look at the children from Balanced Drive in particular at the time and Palmis area and I knew that somehow if we did not do something then they would be angry with persons in different parts of the Souffre environment. And we formed at that time what we call the Consumer Citizen Group and we provided school scholarships to the children we had counseling we supported them in terms of I think at that time we started what we call the school feeding program in St. Lucian almost 50 years ago. We put our own resources in and started feeding those kids. And I'm saying so just to tell you that as individuals and as civil society we need to look around us to the things that are not working well and then to ask the law to guide us in terms of how we use us to transform our community. What is happening in Souffre cannot be changed only by the government. Civil society I am pleased that the private sector in Souffre Caribbean has joined hands to examine the landscape and determine how best to change what we are doing, what is happening there. So I want to say thank you on behalf of the government on behalf of all of St. Lucian and I want to tell you that as as a minister even in commerce as well as a member of the cabinet we will do all in our power to support it. This year 2023 has been a year where commerce has received quite a bit of attention by this government and when you look at we've been a minister of commerce we've launched our MSME program and that again is to assist small businesses that were impacted by COVID to give them an assistance so that they can come up and assist young persons to start their own businesses within the prime minister's ministry we had the youth economy for the youth economy quite a few young persons I think it's over 100, almost 200 young persons have received a $5,000 grant to assist them to start a new business within our MSME we have up to $25,000 70% grant 30% loan all this is showing us and other things that have happened is a government that is focused on putting the people of Centrusha face it is a new direction in terms of governance but it is a direction that we believe is needed for Centrusha at this time it is what is needed for Centrusha at this time I want to take this moment as well to thank the other partners because without the Taiwan trade show then Caribbean Greens would not have had an opportunity to participate in that exhibition and then come up with this initiative to support the young people of UFO so I believe that it is together together all of us doing what we can where we are civil servants because we have a few here today doing what we have to do efficiently that is critical for us because if the civil service do not perform efficiently then you have an ineffective government so I want not only the Ministry of Commerce to understand that the staff are the Ministry of Commerce but every civil servant listening that it is when you do your work well whether it is at the ports, customs whether it is at infrastructure when you do your work well you are reserving the people of Centrusha and reserving the government of Centrusha each of us parents in terms of what you do at home in terms of the guidance to your kids and the church how you present yourself, the role in the community all of us coming together in partnership to making the lives of each of us better each of us, we are called each one of us here was placed in this planet for our purpose we need to know what it is and we need to be the hands and feet of the Lord that's what it is and I can tell you that this is from that concept that last month November was pure month October was pure month and even pure month we said we wanted to have a legacy program and then we came up with Kudme and Soufier and for the entire month of November up into December Soufier is still in Kudme mode and that's what it is Kudme is one helping each other as a country if we do not do that if we do not support the manufacturing sector and you said it correctly we need to be able to use the resources that we have we need to be able to be creative about it and we need to be able to take it we need to be able to utilize it we need to be able to be proud of what we have and we need to be able to move together as one nation so I want to take this moment to thank all parties for what we are doing here today and I believe if we are doing it right the Lord will guide us, I thank you we do appreciate your unwavering support at this time this is the moment when the cheque will be handed over I would like to invite Mr. Osman Divi the manager of Cargain Brains to present the cheque to Honorable Chris Kailash Leos we will see it on behalf of Ubuntu Movement and Dr. Stephen King it's a partnership Dr. King welcome to you guys from Caribbean Grains who will be the boat of time good morning everyone it has been such an honor to have you here as part of this wonderful ceremony on behalf of Caribbean Grains limited management and staff I would like to extend heartfelt gratitude to our esteemed guests Honorable Minister Emma Hipulit the permanent secretary representative for the Ubuntu Movement Honorable Prince Kailash and Raisin Lucia Dr. King special thanks to the staff of Ministry of Commerce and continued affairs and staff of Caribbean Grains limited for attending as we are proud to be part of such a great movement which is the very best happens for the Ubuntu Movement and they prosper in their mission for the youth and young adults at risk in view of it sincere thanks to our heads of the various departments who handled the planning throughout finally I would like to say thank you to one and all for being present here with us today once more thank you thank you very much good news some delicious treats awaiting us so I invite you of course to taste and see what the flower can do thank you all