 Welcome to NTN Nightly, I am General Norville, this edition's top stories. The Ministry of Commerce reawakens the St. Lucian palette to local products. The NFT receives over a million dollars from government to meet outstanding payments to farmers and institutional support for the CMOS sector increases. The Ministry of Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs in collaboration with other public and private sector partners on Tuesday officially launched its rebranded by local campaign dubbed Love St. Lucia. The goal of the campaign, according to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs, Sophia Henry, is to build resilience in the St. Lucia economy by encouraging hobby-forming, maximizing the potential of local industry, improving consumer awareness and increasing the domestic market share of our local manufacturers and service providers. This campaign serves to drive an increase in sales revenue and profits of local manufacturers and service providers. This will result in employment creation and economic stabilization and ultimately have a multiplier effect in our local economy. The campaign will also inform manufacturers and service providers of the varying needs and preferences of the consumer and further assist them in responding to those needs. We are determined to ensure that all sectors benefit from this campaign. An important feature of the campaign is to encourage households to grow more of what they eat and share the surplus. The Permanent Secretary indicated that it is also important to increase the consumption of St. Lucia goods and services by visitors. Irrespective of the purpose of the visit, Henry explained that visitors must not only fall in love with the island and its people, but its goods and services as well. More importantly, she noted, is to ensure that St. Lucia supports that, which is the local. My ministry is of the firm view that the success of this campaign will depend greatly on, one, the involvement of all stakeholders, and two, a change in mindset of our people towards appreciating and consuming what is ours. Our responsibility as a stakeholder is to collaborate in enhancing our business environment to enable the entrepreneurial culture to thrive through this campaign. We remain focused on providing, on promoting sorry and building an entrepreneurial culture throughout the breadth of St. Lucia. The ministry remains confident that supporting local businesses, especially during these unprecedented times, will result in increased simulation of the economy and more money becoming available to develop St. Lucia. The bi-local campaign was first launched on November 25, 1998, when the ministries of commerce, agriculture and tourism, along with private sector entities such as the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce and St. Lucia Industrial and Small Business Association came together in a sure solidarity and support for the manufacturing sector with the aim of bringing awareness to locally manufactured products and services. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reporting. The Ministry of Agriculture has presented the National Fair Trade Organization, NFTO, with more than $1 million to meet outstanding payments to farmers. Anissia Antoine has the details. As part of an ongoing initiative to support farmers who may have been affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Cooperatives made an official check presentation of approximately $1.4 million to the National Fair Trade Organization, NFTO. The contribution will specifically assist with the shortfall in payments between the organizations of Winfresh and the NFTO. Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Barry Morphé-Lissier explained that the initiative is designed to aid farmers who have not received payments to enable them to provide for their families and continue their agricultural exploits. This payment between NFTO and the Government of St. Lucia is indeed part of our COVID-19 response program and has begun and is the first initiative under the Department of Agriculture under this COVID response program. We are pleased to have here today the representatives of NFTO to hand over and to ensure that this support is received, well received by the farmers to provide for the inputs and the livelihoods. The Chairman of the National Fair Trade Organization, Eustace Monroe, expressed gratitude to the Government of St. Lucia for their continuous support. The Government has again responded to our cry and plea and is now making available another million dollars, which as I've indicated earlier, will be a very thankful form. Now this million dollars will only cover, at least it will cover the eight weeks of hoping because I think NFTO has to do some beefing up. Because right now we owe the farmer 1.2 million dollars, where the exact figure would be 1,227,876 dollars for the eight outstanding weeks. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Cooperatives, Honourable Ezekiel Joseph, encouraged farmers to find ways to reduce production costs as well as increase the quality of their products. We are high-priced producers. But notwithstanding the high price that we are on the market, there's a demand for our bananas and that's what keeping us going. That was given us the motivation as a Government to continue to support the banana industry. But one of the things that I believe that we have or the NFTO and the farmers have control over is to how they can reduce the cost of production. That's one, it's their responsibility, it's not a Government responsibility. It's not the PS or the Minister's responsibility for farmers to reduce the cost of production. It's also the farmer's responsibility to make sure that they produce good quality bananas. And whilst we can overcome the high costs of production and as a Government under the leadership of Prime Minister coming out of the trick we had in the UK, agreed for us to go on a campaign and we have finalised the programme as far as the company is concerned, both locally and the UK to promote our bananas as a gourmet banana which we believe can of course cause people to gravitate towards our bananas. The Minister for Agriculture reaffirmed the Government's commitment to assisting farmers in St Lucia. From the Government Information Service, I am Anisia Antoine reporting. The strengthening of social protection systems formed a key part of the budget presentation by Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, the Honourable Alan Chastney as he announced several measures to bring some relief to the most vulnerable in our society. Among the actions the Prime Minister announced was that the Government would reduce the electricity bills of qualifying households from between $50 and $100 per month. This would be done through the reduction in electricity fewer surcharge for a six-month period which is expected to generate savings. The Public Assistance Cash Transfer Programme is being expanded from 2,600 households to 3,600 households. The Prime Minister also announced an increase in the Child Disability Grant from $200 to $300 an increase in the grant for persons living with HIV from $100 to $200 and an increase in the grant for children in foster care from $200 to $300. Now in stimulating the economy, Government is making available US $3.1 million to provide blended loan grant assistance to small businesses. The assistance packages will range from $5,000 to $25,000 to micro and small enterprises with a focus on food security and digital technologies. This will be provided through the St Lucia Development Bank and will benefit between 1,200 and 1,500 enterprises. There is also the provision of low-cost financing to meet working capital requirements of the small micro-business sector affected by COVID-19. An allocation of $5 million will be administered by the St Lucia Development Bank. 350 people are expected to benefit. The Government has also granted a waiver of taxes on interest earnings of financial institutions from loans to micro enterprises. Mr. Speaker, the intention of this initiative is to encourage our financial institutions to provide needed capital to small and micro enterprises through approved financial products for a period of three years commencing July 2020. EC 3.5 million has been allocated to this initiative. Provision of a half a million to Bell Fund to capitalize this institution to respond to the needs of micro-business sector. Mr. Speaker, we recognize in these times a number of skilled persons are out of employment on the desire of starting a business. These resources are meant to provide initial startup capital for such individuals. Commercial and residential landlords are also due to benefit. A 50% waiver of commercial property taxes for the period 2019 to 2020 to landlords who extend moratoriums of a minimum of 20% of monthly rental charges for a period of three months covering either April to June or July to September 2020. This Mr. Speaker is intended to support tenants affected by the slowdown in business activity. But Mr. Speaker, we have not forgotten those in rented accommodations. We propose offering a tax deduction to landlords of 20% of the monthly rental value for a period of six months. In effect, Mr. Speaker, a tenant who pays a monthly rent of $1,000 may now have their rent reduced to $800 and the landlord can claim an amount of $200 per month for that period. This and other measures are part of the Economic Recovery and Resilience Plan as St. Lucia mitigates the effects of COVID-19. The plan will be launched in the coming weeks. The Permanent Secretary in the Department of the Public Service says COVID-19 has propelled the government to think differently about the way it conducts business and delivers services to the public. The government, she said, needs to remain open-minded, objective, innovative and nurture innovation. In an article from the World Economic Forum, working from home was a luxury for the affluent before coronavirus. Not anymore, as social distancing protocols due to COVID-19 have caused more employees to work from home than ever before. Permanent Secretary in the Department of the Public Service, Peggy Anso, believes that the public service needs to be more open and receptive to the new modalities for doing business. Permanent Secretary in the Department of the Public Service, Peggy Anso, believes that COVID-19, she said, provides opportunities for a blended approach to work. Sometimes I think we think of COVID as something that has happened or something that we know will end by a particular period of time. We really don't know. So we must put measures in place to ensure that we are able to deal with any situation that arises. And not only COVID, just as hard as COVID did. Health and safety issues such as mold, air quality and other environmental concerns constantly plague the public service, forcing government to increase its operational cost and providing alternative work spaces. PS2 that says, due to COVID-19, public service managers have realized the productivity benefits of teleworking. We've seen many ministries adopting a blended approach to work and they have reported very high productivity levels. We understand that not many people are able to work from home for one reason or the other. But it should not stop us from identifying what can be done, how it can be done in different ways to achieve the same result. Government recently launched its digital platform called DigiGov. Minister for Economic Development, Transport and Civil Aviation, Honourable Guy Joseph, is hopeful that the digital economy will lead to increased productivity gains and radically change the way we work. Government has been stuck in this stone age when it comes to the use of technology. Basically, the number of times I had to travel to meetings overseas. COVID forced us into a situation where the same meetings that we could have had, virtual meetings, we were not having them today. All the meetings are taking place on Zoom and you are still getting the work done. So, I believe that where we are going with this is something that should be welcomed, that the people of St. Lucia would get a much more efficient service. The minister also highlighted the economic impact of the 8am rush hour commute, which he termed the crawl hour, with many man-hours lost in traffic. To this, the Permanent Secretary said, it is time to think out of the box or even stand on it. The discussion needs to start because it's happening all over the world. We are speaking of digitisation and digital transformation and so on. Is it necessary to, like you said, come through that rush hour or the crawl hour to work? When these things could easily be done from home, we are asking our clients to do it from home. Can we do it from home? We need to start the discussion. We need to talk about it. She stated that this paradigm shift in alternative work arrangements comes with its own fears, concerns and pushback. As some supervisors and employees still believe, the best way to monitor and get maximum output is to be physically located within the office. For the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council, Glenn Simon reporting. Strides are being made in the Seymour sub-sector from an increase in farmers to market penetration and consumer demand. We hear more about the institutional support to the sector in this report. Due to the rising popularity of Seymour's on the international markets, St Lucia is experiencing an increase in demand for Seymour's cultivation. Subsequent to the meeting held with the Seymour's farmers from the community of Opica, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, fisheries, natural resources and cooperatives take the Seymour's plots in the south of the island. Minister for Sustainable Development and Parliamentary Representative for Mekud North, Honourable Dr Gail Rigabet, stressed on the importance of economic empowerment and reassured the government's support towards assisting the Seymour's farmers. We are now at the juncture where we must look at issues of regulation because there's a mad rush into Seymour's farming. How do you protect existing farmers? How do you demarcate the farms? What other assistance, technical assistance we can give to ensure that perhaps they can realize a greater yield per line? Because we saw the lines. Is there a studio line that they can use? So we are now forced to look at Seymour's more seriously. I must say the Ministry of Agriculture has always demonstrated a great level of interest in what Mr Bonaventure and his group have been doing here in Poirin and I'm very grateful for that assistance and technical guidance. But evidently given that this is fast becoming the new gold, that we must move very swiftly to regulate the sub-sector. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Natural Resources and Cooperatives, Honourable Ezekiel Joseph explained that with the growing demand for Seymour's the Ministry of Agriculture is committed to assisting with the issues currently being faced. The leadership of the Ministry felt it was important for us to go on the ground, to have an appreciation as to what was told to us and to see how we can come up with solutions to remedy the problems. So it is really an education for all of us from the Ministry because Seymour's obviously has great potential we have to meet the problems as early as possible. So we were here to meet with the respective groups to meet with the farmers and to go out there and see how they are engaged in the cultivation of that crop. Honourable Ezekiel Joseph stressed on the importance of structure and standards to ensure the quality of the product must not become compromised. The main fact is that they demand for our Seymour's we don't want anybody just to go and buy Seymour's and sell it out there. We must keep the standards. So in doing this we also have to see how we can regularise the exporters. Because it could be anybody who wants to buy Seymour's from someone. We don't know if the person is born as a Seymour's producer overseas or sell it locally. So we not only look at the question of production we not only look at the question of putting measures in place as it put into those producing it but we also have to look at the entire chain we have to look at the exporters we have to look at the processors so that is their systems in place their procedures in place where they can engage everybody can engage each other so the records are clear one of the only ways I believe we can really cope pretty well last night. The site visits to the Seymour's plots in Puale and Servants Bay to place on Wednesday June 17th 2020. From the Government Information Service I am Anisia Antoine reporting. This is Antia Nightly Up next, Primus Hutchinson with the Antia Nouvelle of We All. Coronavirus? I am worried Gaza is only all people dying from that. Hold up. Being young does not mean being safe. Yes, it's true that the elderly are at higher risk but anyone can get the virus. The effect is even worse if you have a chronic condition like hypertension, heart disease, lung disease and diabetes or weakness in your immune system. If you are living with these conditions be extra careful. Wash your hands with soap and water. Use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol when hand washing is not possible. Avoid touching your face. Take steps to boost your immunity through proper nutrition, exercise, rest and take your medication as prescribed. Limit being around people who have food symptoms. Even close family members. Our health is in our hands. Together through simple actions we can stop the spread of Coronavirus. This message was brought to you by the Bureau of Health Education of the Ministry of Health and Wellness. Welcome back. We are now in Washington for the NTN Nouvelle-Arcouay-All. Monsieur Ta-Jeonel, M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. The government has facilitated the development of tourist investment, but it is a sector that has no responsibility to make investment in the Salah. So, what is the purpose of this Salah project? It is because of the lack of responsibility for its investment in a way that has changed the situation. So, the government has almost control over it. Prime Minister Shasne declared that the government has kept an eye on the Salah and the development of its investment in the Salah. The Salah Hotel, Sarathun and Business Leisure, Cut Yard Marriott, the construction of the Salah Hotel, has occupied almost all of the properties of the non-business in the Salah. The Salah Hotel is the 9th floor of the Salah Hotel, and it also has the capacity of the swimming pool, which is a lot of facilities. So, what is the purpose of this Salah? The project is to provide the best conditions for the salah to be heard for about $2 million. It is the goal of the Caribbean that it has set out to provide a better environment for the Salah. So, the Salah Hotel is a lot of facilities to provide the best conditions for the Salah. We call it a 10-dezafertive effort. The main reason for this Salah is to provide the best conditions for the Salah to be heard for about $10 million. I started building a new project that had a place to play golf and a place for the family and the individuals as well. The construction of the restaurants was done by Adel-Sèche-Rasey. I started building a new project that had a place to play golf and a place for the family and the individuals as well. The government has already done a lot of agricultural work. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The government has already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The government has already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $10 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $25 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers. The Cheikhs have already paid $4,000 to assist the farmers with the cost of the payment to the farmers.