 St Lucia's Finance team attends virtual annual IMF World Bank meetings. Chamber of Commons gets an update on COVID-19 and the Economic Recovery Plan. Prime Minister encourages St Lucia to follow protocols amidst an outpouring of support for the Island's Chief Medical Officer. Join us as we take a look back at the appointments in the Prime Minister's weekly diary. Although the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are being held virtually this year, it doesn't minimise the importance of the sessions. Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Economic Growth, Job Creation, External Affairs and the Public Service, Hon. Alan Shastney took part in several engagements including a Governor's Meeting with the managing directors of both the IMF and the World Bank and a virtual round table on SID's access to finance under the theme of identifying solutions for resilient COVID-19 recovery. Joining Prime Minister Shastney at the meetings was the Acting Permanent Secretary in the Department of Finance Esther Rigabet, Officials of the Department of Finance and the Department of Economic Development. Among the issues stressed on by Prime Minister Shastney during the interactions was the impact of COVID-19 on small island developing states and long-standing issues as blacklisting and de-risking. This week Prime Minister Shastney took part in an update on the COVID-19 response to members of the Chamber of Commerce. The Prime Minister was joined by a team of technical officers from the Government of St. Lucia, which included the Chief Medical Officer, Acting Peers of Finance and various permanent secretaries, as well as members of the delivery unit who provided updates on the health response, the social stabilisation plan, the economic recovery, public sector investment programs, commerce and industry update, as well as updates on varying sectors of the economy. The financial team had a frank discussion about the challenges and the way forward. The Prime Minister spoke to the business community about ensuring COVID-19 protocols are followed at their institutions and thank all members of the Chamber who attended the meeting. Once we have weathered the COVID-19 storm, we can then refocus our attentions on growing our economy, curtailing debt and returning our fiscal position to a favourable level. As you know, one of our key strategies for jump-starting the economy was the role of a series of construction initiatives, particularly public sector investment projects. This strategy returned thousands and has brought much needed income to many households across the island. Some of the major projects which have commenced include the HIA development, road improvement and maintenance programs, the WACS regional tourism competitiveness project and the St. June rehabilitation project. There are a number of other construction projects in the pipeline and these will begin shortly. The Government of St. Lucia continues plans for a national health insurance that provides wide-ranging health coverage to all solutions. At a meeting held with the acting PS of Health Benson A. Meal and the Ministry of Finance, the Prime Minister received an update and set up a task force to finalize the first phase of NHI and to look at the first set of services which would be covered. The national health insurance financing system will make sure that all citizens are provided with essential, health care. Prime Minister Shasne joined thousands who showed support for Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar George and the team from the Ministry of Health in a post on his Facebook page this week. The outpouring of support comes as local health teams face increasing cases of COVID-19 and are calling on the public to be more vigilant. That message also carried through as the Prime Minister got ready to mark junior quail activities and Prime Minister Shasne sent a message of caution to citizens to observe protocols as they celebrated the occasion. We all want you to have a great weekend, but I'm asking all of us. We're reducing the crowd size from 100 to 50 or less. When you're having your home parties, please continue to practice proper protocols. Try to keep your mask on as much as possible. Make sure that you're social distancing and try to wash your hands as often as possible. And make sure that we have a great weekend. Salusha, we have a fight on our hands, but we can win this fight. We've shown that we can do it and we can do it again. But it's going to require all of us to be each other's brother's keeper. As I said, we have to protect the elderly in our society. We have to protect the more vulnerable in our society. And more importantly, we have to protect the breadwinners of our society. Many of us cannot afford to have the country shut down. So please, let's work together and make this happen. We can do it. We're all in this together. Have a great Joana Creole. That's it for this week's Diary Report. Join us next week as we continue to review the Prime Minister's weekly diary. Reporting for the Office of the Prime Minister, I am Nicole MacDonald.