 Excellency, Errol Charles Acton, Governor General, and Mrs. Charles. President of the Coordinated Republic of Guyana, Dr. Mohamed Efrem Ali, Deputy Prime Minister, Honourable Dr. Eunice Hille, Senior Minister, Honourable Stevenson King and Mrs. King, Parliamentary Representative for Souffre and Minister for Commerce, Honourable Emma Hippolyt, other members of the Cabinet of Saint Lucia, Puerhman Securities, members of the Diplomatic Corps, Excellency, President of the Senate, other members of Parliament, including the Cabinet Secretary, Ladies and Gentlemen, Jean Souffre, Bon après-midi. Bon après-midi, Jean Souffre. First of all, let me thank sincerely the President of the Coordinated Republic of Guyana, Dr. Mohamed Efrem Ali for joining us to celebrate our 45th anniversary of independence. On behalf of the people of Saint Lucia, I want to thank him and tell him his words and the ideas that he shared with us will remain etched in our memory for a long time. We want to tell him that we will continue to be friends of Guyana and the people of Saint Lucia and the people of Guyana will continue to share these bonds of friendship and love. So, thank you very much, Mr. President, and do come back shortly. My fellow Saint Lucia, it is with humility and gratitude that I address you on this occasion of the 45th anniversary of our country's independence. The right of self-determination, which brought about our independence from colonial rule, brought with the right to pursue our national aspirations and full responsibility for all aspects of our social and economic well-being. Having accepted this, we are now in charge of our social and economic life and structure. These rights and responsibilities we are duty-bound to govern and we are duty-bound to govern to our best abilities in keeping it for our values, principles, and the expectations of our people. Although we attained independence 45 years ago, we are still encumbered by some aspects of colonial rule. It was only last year our country acceded to the Caribbean Court of Justice, CCJ, as our final appellant court, to replace the United Kingdom-based Privy Council. But this is not the end. We have to acknowledge that as this juncture in nation-building, there is still work to be done to fully proclaim our true liberation from colonial rule. The government has revived the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reform with the mandate of examining the work of the constitutional reform body and make recommendations for a new constitution and status for St. Lucia. The theme of this year's celebration, Duvan's sum, building a nation for unity, resilience, and creativity was again chosen this year to ignite national awareness of the need for us to commit to those guiding principles for collective action by our people. My government remains committed to the ideas of national unity despite any religious or political differences. We accept that we will have these differences, but we have also recognized and will continue to promote the ethos that working together as a nation, as one people with one common purpose, is the only viable approach for our country to achieve inclusive, meaningful, and sustainable developments. We must consciously resist the destructive forces of division, crime, and selfishness and envy and embrace the progressive spirit of unity and love as we build a more equitable, inclusive, and just country. As a country, it will serve us well to adopt a unified vision for the future. This vision must be fashioned through continuous civil dialogue and consolidated through inclusiveness in our social and political relations, in fairness, in resource allocation, and an unrelenting desire to improve the well-being of the less fortunate. And so, on this 45th Independence Anniversary, I renew my call to civil society, political parties, NGOs, trade unions, business associations, national religious and community groups, and other institutions to come forward to play your part in nation building without fear or favor. Our unity is our strength. As a people, we have more in common to unite than divide. We must protect our democratic freedoms, freedom of the press, free speech, the conventions of parliament, free and fair elections, social justice, and enforcement of law and order in our country. These responsibilities cut across all social, religious, and political differences that may exist among us. In this interdependent global world, the incessant wars and conflicts, though not of our making, severely affect our economy for imported inflation, rising community prices, supply chain disruptions, and despite our best efforts to subsidize the basic cost of living for the population, inflation continues to impact on our quality of life. The government will continue to implement measures to improve the quality of life and the impact of inflation on our people. Devastating weather systems generated by climate change have not spared our disaster-prone Caribbean region. The economy of solution has suffered heavy loss and damage as a result of climate change. In the face of these grave threats and dangers, mitigation and adaption to build social, economic, and infrastructural growth and resilience is an urgent need of our country. In this regard, government undertake to promote investments in more climate-resilient housing, roads and bridges, hospitals and wellness centers, schools, airports, and seaport infrastructure. As a country, we must not abandon the principles and values that define us as a people. Our belief in social justice, hard work, discipline, inclusiveness, a society based on meritocracy, respect for our national symbols, preservation of our cultural heritage and our environment, and caring for the less fortunate in the country. To the youth of St. Lucia, I say let us use this occasion of the 45th anniversary of our independence to resolve to further unleash our creativity. Let the world feel once again what we can achieve, what we can accomplish. Let us use our creative talents to build a stronger, economically powerful nation, a St. Lucia that can be an example to the world. To our young men in particular, those who are attracted to gangs and the pursuit of crime for which there are known Nobel prizes, but only confinement within prison bars and ignoble premature death. You can gain safer prosperity and genuine glory by unlocking your hidden talents through legitimate and honorable pursuits. Solutions have the power to be transformative in our areas of our choice. Let us not be satisfied with mediocrity. Let us try to be innovative. Let our imagination soar to new heights and let us climb these heights. There are very many areas and very many fields that we can pursue and make a positive difference to our communities and to our country. The rapid advances in formation technology and the rise of artificial intelligence are pointing the direction in which the world is heading. We must not be left behind as the world advances and so we must be creative. Creative enough to harness those technologies if we are to build a modern society. So digital training and transformation of the economy for digital means, knowledge and scholarship will strengthen the capacity for our citizens to become global citizens for employment and social mobility and wealth creation. My government is committed to assisting young solutions and all those who have ideas for businesses to become successful entrepreneurs and to be the new standard bearers of our future economic development. For agencies like the youth economy, the MSME small loan grant facility, the community tourism program and for the expansion of the technical and vocational education in our schools. Young people seize the opportunities that exist and let us unleash our creativity for the benefit of our country. Happy independence and may God bless you. I thank you.