 Welcome to the NTN Nightly. I'm Nisha Charles. This edition stops stories. Moves are afforded to re-establish the Development Control Authority as a statutory body. The Government of St. Lucia is paying due attention to the island's ease of doing business ranking. Works continue to advance on the first phase of the DSH project. All that plus the latest in youth development and sports. The Development Control Authority, the DCA, plays a pivotal role in the development of St. Lucia. Governed by the Physical Planning and Development Act No. 29 of 2001 and its amendments of 2005, the DCA is an entity charged with the responsibility of regulating all land development. Sectors such as health, housing, public works and agriculture are all represented on the DCA. All land developments require the developer to first obtain the permission of the Development Control Authority. The Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Cooperatives Honourable Harriet Stanislas says Moves are afforded to re-establish the DCA as a statutory body. We are looking at the separation of the Physical Planning Unit and the DCA. We are going to have the DCA to be an independent statutory body away from Physical Planning. Physical Planning is going to be more for forward planning, land use policy, land zoning policy, quarry policy and those sorts of things. And the DCA is going to be concentrating on enforcement, supervision and approval of plants, both small, large-scale, commercial and so on. Often the view expressed from within the agricultural sector in particular is that development often takes place at the expense of the natural environment. This is arguably due to inadequate land use planning and the absence of a comprehensive zoning of lands. Minister Stanislas assured that the separation of the entities will help address the issue. He added that there are many benefits to the DCA as a statutory body. We have completed the first phase of the consultancy. We are now entering the second phase where we are actually putting the structure in place and also the legislation because we have to review and amend our current legislation to go with this separation. So I'm hoping that by the end of this year this is going to come to fruition and we can physically remove the DCA from Physical Planning onto another location as an independent statutory body. And again, all of that is in keeping with the government's policy to improve the ease of doing business in the country and to provide better quality and efficient service to the public. A developer must, before the commencement of a project, submit an application including requirements such as cover letter, drawings, land documents, survey plans and pre-DCA approvals consisting of health, fire and environmental impacts assessment. A bill to amend the International Business Company's CAP 12.14 was recently passed in Parliament. The International Business Company's Amendment No. 2 Bill seeks to ensure that a newly formed head office company as of the 1st of January 2019 should not be given preferential treatment but to be taxed in accordance with the Income Tax Act. The bill was tabled by the Honourable Prime Minister Alan Chastney. The stakeholders requested that an avenue to opt out of being grandfathered be given to IBC's incorporated prior to 2019. The amendment of 2018 provided for companies incorporated prior to 2019 to continue benefiting from the tax exceptions until June 30th, 2021, grandfathered period. This insertion of 5B now gives the option to these companies to no longer be a grandfathered company. This is an important part because there are some companies who actually benefited from being grandfathered and those companies now actually want to move much quicker and move into the new regime. So this amendment would allow them to be able to convert from being a grandfathered company which is applicable until 2022 and move much quicker into actually being a regular company and currently benefit from the new regime. According to Chastney, these companies would not be liable to pay taxes on their local income and benefit from other taxations in place of international revenue. Main Time Prime Minister Chastney piloted another amendment. The Income Tax Amendment 2 Act seeks to amend the Income Tax Act 15.02 which ensures that a business company which was incorporated prior to January 1, 2019 and elected to pay 1% income tax continues to be liable to pay the income tax under the Income Tax Act 15.02 with respect to its worldwide income. The amendment ensures who should benefit from the exemption on foreign source income. The provision states that a grandfathered company, a company incorporated prior to January 2019 does not benefit from the exemption of tax on foreign source income. During the period of the grandfathering, a grandfathered company has to be subject to the legislation which governed it prior to the creation of a new legislation for newly incorporated companies. Again, such companies, grandfathered companies, based on the IBC amendment may opt out of the grandfathering and become a 2019 company. Prime Minister Chastney went on to clarify the reasoning for the amendment. Members of the House, Mr. Speaker, would have remembered that while we were trying to satisfy the requirements of the European's OECD with regards to harmful taxation that what we had agreed to do was to eventually amend and abolish our IBCs. The manner in which we are doing that, Mr. Speaker, is by eventually merging our IBCs with our local companies. And what we've introduced is what's called a territorial tax structure. Under that territorial tax structure, which is in essence the source of taxation is defined by the CARICOM agreement that we have, does not charge taxes on foreign-earned income by those companies. So what we're doing is putting a provision in is that the companies that were under the old IBC Act for the period up until for the two years of the grandfathering can continue to benefit from the 1% tax. And this is the NTN Nightly. Rhino Bryan is up next. Look at your breastfeeding. I give him both just now, but I don't think I can breastfeed. Why won't you breastfeed? The thing is my breasts are so small. I don't think I will have enough milk for my baby. My dear, you can breastfeed. The size of your breasts does not matter. The more the baby sucks on your breasts, the more milk your breasts will make. People say your breasts will fall when you breastfeed. I don't mind to fall. Eventually all breasts will fall. Once you wear a supportive bra, it will help maintain the muscles of your breasts while you breastfeed. Breast milk is very important for your baby's health. It is complete nutrition for your baby with the right nutrients. I did a lot of reading while I was pregnant and found out a lot of good things about breastfeeding. Really? Like what? You will lose the baby fat much easier when you breastfeed. The baby is more intelligent and the baby gets sick less. It is also cheaper and practical since you wouldn't have to buy artificial milk or boiled bottles. Breastfeeding does all that? A.A. Now you make me want to breastfeed. I want my baby to be healthy and smart. There's more. In addition, I saved a lot of money from not having to buy formula. Do you know how expensive formula is? No formula? How is that possible? The baby will go hungry? No. The breast is adequate for the baby's need from birth to six months. The baby needs no other foods or liquids during that period. Is that so? My sister had the baby last year and my granny insisted she give the baby to Oloma and she was only three months. Nothing before six months. The nutritionist will guide you on how to introduce foods to the baby. Wow! I learnt a lot. I had no idea breastfeeding was that important. Yes it is. Breastfeeding is the best thing you can do for your baby. Do it and you will see. You will also bond with your baby. I will my girl. Nice talking to you. I'm happy to hear that. Also encourage your friends and family too. Welcome back. We join Ryan O'Brien for the latest happenings in youth development and sports. Thanks Nisha. And welcome everyone to our weekend update from youth development and sports on the NTN Nightly News. I'm Ryan O'Brien. The Ministries of Youth Development, Sports, Equity, Social Justice, Empowerment, Culture and Local Government in collaboration with the San Lucia National Table Tennis Association continues to develop and showcase the special needs athletes' abilities in a fun and safe environment. The sport of table tennis was a sport used recently to express the abilities with a day of play at the Moseju Endo Facility Wednesday. Four out of six schools participated. The Nata School, Denry Children's Centre Special Ed, VFO Special Education Centre, Sufra Special Education Rehabilitation Centre. The tournament took the format of open singles for both male and female competitors. Ron Robin in a group stage followed by the knockout stage from quarter-finals through to finals. Single elimination games to 11 points were played until the semi-finals. Semi-finals through to finals were played two best entry games. Medals were presented to top finishers in the championships. Greg Masler from the VFO Special Education Centre and Shani Stewart from the Denata School dominated the boys and girls' open singles event. The girls' events saw 13 girls competing in the knockout stages. The first semi-final match saw the two-time girl champion, Shani Stewart from the Nata, winning over her schoolmate, Kisha Beset, 11-6. The second semi-final match saw Chevelle Norbar from Sufra Special Education Rehabilitation Centre, defeating Julian Dominic from the VFO Special Education Centre, 12-10. The finals witnessed the confident and passionate Shani Stewart winning in straight sets over Chevelle Norbar, 11-4, 11-5 to retain the girls' singles championship. The boys' events saw 18 boys competing in the group stage. The semi-final matches featured three competitors from the VFO Special Education Centre and one from the Sufra Special Education Rehabilitation Centre. The first semi-final match saw Lassie's runners-up, Greg Masler from the VFO Special Education Centre, losing to his teammate, Janil Moffat, 12-10, 11-8. The second semi-final match saw Greg Masler from the VFO Special Education Centre, winning 11-6, 11-9 over Hazel Neptune from the Sufra Special Education Rehabilitation Centre. In the finals, Greg Masler won in straight sets over Janil Moffat, 12-10, 11-5 to become 2019 Special Education Table Tennis Champion. 62 students from the six schools had the opportunity to participate in six physical literacy activities which involved developing the ABCs for the sport of table tennis during the championship. Six stage transfer ball, forehand bounce, backhand bounce, alternating forehand and backhand, agility leader and forehand backhand roll to score, skipping. The students who completed all six activities were presented with certificates. The three best performers in each stage for both the boys and girls' categories were also rewarded with medals. The best boy and girl were also recognized as most physically illiterate athletes. The last event was the balancing ball relay. First place went to the Sufra Special Education Centre, second to Donata and third place VFO Special Ed. The Ministry of Development and Sports is continuing its preparations for next week's school sports awards to be held at St. Mary's College. Schools that were successful over the last year in various sporting competitions put on by the Ministry of Development and Sports in collaboration with the Ministry of Education will come together on June 28th for the staging of the annual Schools Sports Awards Ceremony. Winning schools and student athletes will be receiving trophies and awards acquired over the Schools Sports Program. That's all round up from Youth Development and Sports for this week. I'm Ryan O'Brien. Thanks Ryan. The Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators, the CATA, is currently holding a conference under the theme The Future of Tax, which explores, among other issues, what the tax policy environment will look like in 2025 and beyond. Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Economic Growth, Job Creation, External Affairs and the Public Service, the Hon. Alan Shastney, is attending the conference in London, along with St. Lucia's High Commissioner to the UK, his Excellency Guy Mayors, while in London. The Prime Minister is also expected to hold several meetings with investors and St. Lucia's living in the UK. In the Prime Minister's absence, Hon. Leonard Wontoot, the Minister for Equity, Social Justice, Local Government and Empowerment, serves as acting Prime Minister. And we'll stay with the NTN Nightly. I'm innovative. I'm competitive. I am productive. I'm creative. I constantly improve what I do. And how I do it. I provide excellent customer service. I never stop learning. I give all my best, always. The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council, embracing excellence. Welcome back. Work is continuing on the horse racing track, which forms part of the first phase of the Pearl of the Caribbean development in Fear 4. The first phase of the track includes a world-class race track with turf and dirt courses, quarantine facilities, a polo field, barns and a veterinary clinic. The Office of the Prime Minister says over 200 St. Lucia's have been employed on the first phase of the project, along with 15 local contractors. More business and employment opportunities will be created in the coming weeks, with an estimated 500 jobs being created for locals, and the town-centered development phase of the project commences. A training program will also be conducted focusing on maintenance and administration of the track, as well as training in hospitality, grooming and caring for the first set of horses, which will be arriving in the coming months. In other business investment news, the Government of St. Lucia is paying due attention to the island's ease of doing business ranking. General Norville reports on the single-window feature designed to better facilitate business transactions. The Government is continuing efforts to simplify the administrative processes and procedures in reference to goods entering and leaving the country. In 2009, Cabinet gave permission for the establishment of a port community single-window to increase St. Lucia's competitiveness in regards to the trading of goods. In a thrust to improve St. Lucia's ease of doing business ranking, the Government of St. Lucia has focused on trade facilitation of domestic and commercial goods in and out of the island's ports. According to Minister for Commerce, Industry, Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs Honourable Bradley Felix, the Government is working assiduously to implement what is termed a port community single-window to electronically harmonize and standardize information relating to the clearing of goods. Well, another area that we are aggressively working on is the area of ensuring that the single-window comes into force. There are agencies out there that are providing us with financial assistance to ensure that we are able to bring this to fruition. It will make a significant difference in how business is done because now people will not have the duplicated efforts of going to various entities when they want to bring in their goods, clear their goods. It's now going to be very, very seamless. The term single-window is often used to refer to different business environments or facilities where multiple tasks leading to a single outcome may be carried out by different parties on the basis of common information being supplied only once. The key objective of this kind of single-window is to facilitate traders in discharging all the regulatory obligations related to import or export with the relevant authorities of their country. Minister Felix indicated that sometime in September-October, a team will be coming to St. Lucia to assist with the process. The team coming down that will provide us with some assistance in putting that program together. And we're going to be inviting the various brokers and business people from the manufacturing and the Chamber of Commerce all to come and see how this thing is going to benefit everybody. The implementation of the port community single-window is considered a priority on the ease of doing business agenda for St. Lucia. For the government information service, I am General Norville. And here's a look at what's happening to us weather-wise. Saharan dust haze will continue to cause a reduction in visibility around the eastern Caribbean region. Two tropical waves located over the central and far eastern tropical Atlantic are moving westward near 23 miles per hour or 37 kilometers per hour. Tropical cyclone formation is not expected over the tropical Atlantic during the next five days. The tide for Castries Harbor was low at 12.48 p.m. and will be high again at 7.13 p.m. The tide for V4 Bay was low at 2.15 p.m. and will be high again at 8.20 p.m. The sea is moderate to locally rough with waves 5 to 7 feet or 1.5 to 2.1 meters. Small craft operators and sea bathers are advised to exercise caution due to brisk winds, rough seas, and reduced visibility. The sun will rise Saturday at 5.37 a.m. And that brings us to the end of the NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7 p.m. with a repeat at 7 a.m. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I'm Nisha Trouse.