免раш,  Weight was ного నేన్ Avenue astronomy ఒమండి NXTommes Dewa ఉపి mówią చ౔నడిনా Shane టాఫికి P 요 我 YoursUpnietzt 謝謝 mine in食 టోక౉ิర వాఎషిoyo టాక కాఆఇ పౢాంఱి tissue Amould Wally Mlle కిటూటి ja ౪స్ిzia నిఈత intent 不要 మితరంి Management iç by section 64 of the public finance management act cap 15.01 that money borrowed by the government must be paid into or form part of the consolidated fund and whereas the municipal finance considered it necessary to borrow an amount of 11,500 special joint rights in this resolution referred to as the credits. The loan from the international available association to finance the organization of eastern Caribbean states skills and innovation project and whereas the maximum commitment charge rate payable is one half of one percent per annum on the on with joint balance and whereas a service charge is payable at a rate of three-fourths of one percent per annum on the with joint credit balance and whereas the principal amount of the credit is repayable on the first day of April and the first day of October in each year and whereas the principal amount of the credit is repayable over a period of 40 years with a grace period of 10 years be it resolved that parliament offerizes a municipal finance to an amount of 11,500,000 special joint rights in this resolution referred to as the credits. The loan from the international development association to finance the organization of eastern Caribbean states skills and innovation project build for the reserve that a maximum commitment charge rate is one half of one percent per annum on the on with joint balance a service charge is payable at a rate of three-fourths of one percent per annum on the with joint credit balance principal amount of the credit is repayable on the first day of April and the first day of October in each year the principal amount of the credit is repayable over a period of 40 years with a grace period of 10 years. Mr. Speaker as the resolution read it's actually a loan to finance the OECS skills innovation project Mr. Speaker the 11 and it's alone for 11.5 million sdrs which is equivalent to a 15 million us dollars and it's from the international association for the OECS skills and innovation project and you as you note Mr. Speaker the interest rates and if you know Mr. Speaker what's happening interest rates worldwide these days and you note that the interest rate for this loan is the maximum commitment charge rate payable is one half of one percent per annum on the on with joint balance and three-fourths of one percent per annum on the with joint credit balance and Mr. Speaker this loan is to improve the skills of people we are borrowing money to improve the skills of people keeping it in theme with what the government stands for putting people first so this money will be used Mr. Speaker to deal with the unemployment situation among young people in two OECS states Grenada and St. Lucia Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker you'll be pleased to note that when at the end of this year this fiscal year when the unemployment figures will be given you will find that there has been a tremendous dent in the unemployment rate among young people in St Lucia and the facts Mr. Speaker will speak for themselves Mr. Speaker the facts will speak for themselves there's St Lucia I don't want Mr. Speaker I am not many revelations and many truths will be revealed very soon very soon Mr. Speaker the truth the truth of the state of the St Lucia economy as demonstrated by economic metrics not in UNDO economic metrics facts that can be proven both quantitatively and qualitatively in the lives of the people of St Lucia these are going to be revealed very shortly but but that that loan Mr. Speaker is basically to improve the skills of young people in this country Mr. Speaker as you know Mr. Speaker sometime ago I I was addressing some people in London Mr. Speaker and I made a point and I'll make it again because it is a belief that if you make something sound stupid even though it's not stupid the person who said it would believe it's stupid but that doesn't work I'm focused and that's my problem my problem is I'm focused so if you say and you write and you in UNDO and say what I say is stupid once I know enough stupid I'll say it again and I'll say I'll say what I said again I said Mr. Speaker that COVID made me understand more deeply I said that COVID pandemic may be understand more deeply the impact of the tourism industry on the lives of the people of St Lucia that's what I said and I'll say it again Mr. Speaker so they went along and they said I said I didn't know what the reason me Mr. Speaker but you know that's noise I don't miss it that problem if me it I'm focused so noise doesn't bother me Mr. Speaker we found that after COVID a large section of the workforce who had been employed into tourism Mr. Speaker found themselves out of job they were employed at all levels of the hotel of the hotel industry Mr. Speaker because you see Mr. Speaker the hotel industry what makes it work is if there is vertical integration vertical integration means that people are involved at all levels of the industry so what we strive to do is stop it from hold the horizontal development and try to make it vertical Mr. Speaker and to be vertical means you must have skills you don't have only to be a a a a restaurante or a waiter or house or housekeeper you need to have skills you don't have skills in IT you need to have skills in in in in in the culinary arts you don't have the skills Mr. Speaker so we found Mr. Speaker that a number of people who employed in tourism industry both with St Lucia and Grenada when these two countries the impact was was even stronger Mr. Speaker that we found that these people had to be reskilled and these people had to learn different skills so they can be they can get ready for the market Mr. Speaker so Mr. Speaker hoping that that economic shock that COVID calls to the industry and in St Lucia Mr. Speaker we are particularly affected because St Lucia we borrowed over 300 million dollars for COVID Mr. Speaker because we had absolutely no savings that the government had no savings so we had to borrow money borrow money to pay salaries and it's a very it's a good thing Mr. Speaker that our city servants remained employed during that period albeit the fact that we had to borrow money to pay the Mr. Speaker but Mr. Speaker we are gradually coming out of these of that of these ages with the speaker and the government Mr. Speaker will be able will be able to pay civil servants and pay debt Mr. Speaker but that's under a show Mr. Speaker so Mr. Speaker we found that the youth unemployment rates were exceptionally high Mr. Speaker in St Lucia at that time it was said that between 37 and 45 percent of the young people in St Lucia were unemployed during that period and what and what what happened Mr. Speaker these young people were displaced and they could not find employment because they didn't have the necessary skills to be able to work in other parts of the industry Mr. Speaker so our productivity failed Mr. Speaker and there were skills shortages so the impact of that loan is to upgrade the skills of these young people Mr. Speaker that hopefully would be the impact of the loan Mr. Speaker so Mr. Speaker what are the components of that loan Mr. Speaker number one Mr. Speaker first of all Mr. Speaker this this loan Mr. Speaker it's hope hopefully the productivity of the region will increase and in the long run its growth and the negative impact of skills shortages will be reduced because these young people are going to be reskilled Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker the mismatches that exist between the high youth unemployment and the mismatch and the skills mismatches because you find when some young people are going to look for a job you ask them what they don't want to do they say anything there is no job as anything there is no job called anything but it's because of the mismatch Mr. Speaker the young person and the availability of jobs to match their skills Mr. Speaker that is why they say they can do anything Mr. Speaker but there's another story Mr. Speaker which which which will be told and which was criticized and written about and and all kinds of of of thunder and and and and all kinds of things Mr. Speaker was said Mr. Speaker but that story is a story that will be told short Mr. Speaker is the story of the youth economy concept of solution Mr. Speaker the ye concept when that story will be told Mr. Speaker that story will be told so regardless of all the the the kind the the papi shoy and things Mr. Speaker remain in focus that story is going to be told Mr. Speaker remain in focus so Mr. Speaker this increasing is also called Mr. Speaker increase investment in research development and innovation Mr. Speaker what that means is that there will be an increased investment in technology technological adaptations so that means that young people will be able to use the modern use the new economy because of the training that they will undergo Mr. Speaker because there are a number of young people who work from their homes a number of people they create a problem from their homes using the the the technology available Mr. Speaker and Mr. Speaker it's very important and you know it shows the government's plan Mr. Speaker we never said key guidance in computers Mr. Speaker what we did what we did Mr. Speaker is we started the one computer one laptop per child per school in solution Mr. Speaker because we knew we knew that in spite again of all the slum and economy that we knew that if you give there is nothing in this world that's perfect Mr. Speaker you can find downsides in everything in this world there is never a perfect solution anything you do Mr. Speaker there will be some level of downside must be but we knew that in the main if you give every child access to a computer together with smart classrooms and together teaching children how to use this machine Mr. Speaker you would have the increase in technological knowledge and increasing skills and that said the Ministry of Education must be commended for the work as it relates to technology in schools Mr. Speaker which is going to expand in the coming budget Mr. Speaker we also found that there was a lack of qualified employees Mr. Speaker and again that is how the government's program is coming together a lack of qualified employees so we said we would have had we would have strived to have one university graduate per household one person who is qualified at a high level per house Mr. Speaker so you can you can deal with this mismatch of skills so you don't have you do not have to all the time you have to see that you have to bring somebody from from overseas because they which aren't qualified they're not qualified means or it is so we started the one university graduate and Mr. Speaker and to make it even again Mr. Speaker you see how how the government program works what we did is we worked with a university to give full-time scholarships to households where there no one in the family was privileged to go to university we called it first generation scholarships Mr. Speaker first generation scholarships so households Mr. Speaker and you know he who feels it most knows it Mr. Speaker he who feels it most knows it i was fortunate to have gone to to have gone to get higher education Mr. Speaker but there are many people Mr. Speaker who were who are or who were well and to use a word brighter than me Mr. Speaker but they could not go and this is why i am in government i'm in government not to gloat and to victimize people and to be envious of people and to say things about people Mr. Speaker i'm in government to see that the people who went to school with me who didn't have the who didn't have the opportunity to get a higher education i on this cabinet and i will make possible them and that's why i'm in government and that is why i'm in government i'm not in government for myself i'm not going for my ego i'm not going to believe i'm burning anybody else i'm in government to work with a group of men and women to improve the quality of life on the people of the nation Mr. Speaker the objectives of of this project are to enhance and advance the technical skills strengthen regional collaboration in post-secondary education and foster collaborative innovation and the case in the crisis of crisis and emergency respond promptly and effectively to it Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker the project comprises of four components one fostering regional collaboration for skills and innovation in the post-secondary space 4.8 million years Mr. Speaker component one will support component one will support the development of an overarching of an overarching regional strategic framework for post-secondary education and of mechanisms to enhance collaboration among OECS member states on post-secondary education the improvement of post-secondary data at the regional level and the development of a regional innovation ecosystem with strong participation of post-secondary institutions component two strengthening post-secondary institutions and collaborative innovation us 27 million 1.07 million unguaranteed commercial financing component component two will provide direct support to national colleges direct support to national colleges and other selected post-secondary institutions in participating countries to implement regional enhancement plans support innovation projects and develop new or enhanced existing programs for priority skills with the objective of promoting improved learning environments and fostering better skills and innovation in the in the OECS in responding to increasing private sector demand meaning Mr. Speaker that we are going to make an investment at that's an affluent community college because we believe in our regional institutions Mr. Speaker we believe in our regional institutions Mr. Speaker and that is why in this budget you will find that we are going to be assisting and paying the debts that will left behind for us from the industry in the West Indies because we do not believe we believe that there are fantastic organizations and learning institutions in Canada we believe that but we also believe that there are fantastic and learning institutions in the region in solution Mr. Speaker so we believe that we ought also to concentrate on the regional institutions and that is why we are going to be helping in the West Indies and that's why we are going to be enhancing so affluent community college Mr. Speaker component three project management and technical assistance us 4.2 million component three we provide technical assistance to support the implementation of project activities and finance establishment and functioning of three p i us three project management technical institutions with the speaker component four contingent emergency response component that is called c e r c which is due to the OECS high vulnerability to natural disasters including these caused by climate change and its vulnerability to global shocks as exposed by the COVID-19 crisis a c r c is included in the project the component facilitated the use of critical resources by the invent of an eligible national emergency Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker the primary the primary beneficiaries of that project will be 40 000 young people ranging from ages 18 to 44 who are currently enrolled or will enroll in post secondary institution in the OECS region and who will benefit from region's inventions to foster collaboration in post secondary education space and new tools to access priority skills and support teachers as well as 120 entrepreneurs and firms that participate in the innovation project Mr. Speaker and Mr. Speaker this loan will lie in the offices it will be worked to in the ministry of education Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker the loan is concessional 40 years Mr. Speaker with a great period of 10 years there is a commitment charge of one half of one percent in on the on with john one half of one percent and service charge is three-fourths of one percent Mr. Speaker on the on with john balance Mr. Speaker and the loan and Mr. Speaker again the loan will be repaid semi-annually at US 150 000 US dollars paid over 20 periods commencing on the April the first 2034 and including October the first 2043 and US 300 000 dollars over the remaining 40 periods commencing April the first 2044 and including October the first 2063 Mr. Speaker this loan will ask cabinet my cabinet colleagues my parliamentary colleagues to support Mr. Speaker because it's a loan about people Mr. Speaker the loan about people Mr. Speaker this government could have been reckless could have been reckless and get involved in direct finance contracts and leave this country every year having to pay 61 million dollars of DFCs every year Mr. Speaker this government could do that we could do it we could go to appease some people and to be short-sighted and to be able to organize things so that things are organized we could do that Mr. Speaker do that but Mr. Speaker this government believes we have trust in the people of selusia when we say that the people of selusia are resilient we are criticized Mr. Speaker but resilience means that the people understand the facts and the realities and the people are ready to work for themselves with the government to improve the quality of life of the people of selusia and that's what resilience means Mr. Speaker and our history is a history of resilience we fought to free ourselves from slavery we fought to free ourselves from colonialism Mr. Speaker we fought to do a lot because we are resilient people and we are proud about resilience is our resilience that has put us where we are and is our is our resilience that has caused the people of selusia to make that change on the 26th of july 2020 is because of our resilience Mr. Speaker so Mr. Speaker we could have gone alone and borrowed and gone above in DFCs and caused DFCs four years to repay five years to repay and cause interest rates at that time or between five and seven percent and go ahead and do it we could have gone ahead for Mr. Speaker this year and going to next year Mr. Speaker I want to assure the people of selusia that we will present to the people of selusia a plan a method to improve the road infrastructure in this country we understand we understand that the road infrastructure in this country has for many years been a state of in in a state that it in it could have been a better state many years Mr. Speaker but roads in this country didn't start in 2020 2021 Mr. Speaker didn't start at that time we understand we know that we're not groting about the the the state of conditions on the road we understand that we know that but we also know Mr. Speaker and again these are facts that we hate to repeat we also Mr. Speaker that there has been unusual rainfall in this country for the last couple weeks unusual rainfall Mr. Speaker that's a fact that's a fact we're not saying that's the reason why it's a fact Mr. Speaker and we understand and we apologize the people of selusia that they are suffering through some discomfort in the roads of this country Mr. Speaker we understand that we also say to them Mr. Speaker that bad roads in this country is a fact that nobody likes I don't know why some people would believe that the military infrastructure would like to know that there are bad roads in this country why would he like to do that why would he like that you think we get up in the morning and say it's good give the people of selusia bad roads no for me this is because we are responsible this cabinet responsible we are not going to burden I'll tell you something I'll tell you something if his government was reckless the state of the economy that we found and the way and where we've brought it and where we brought it is going to be proven by economic metrics facts that's where that's where we brought it Mr. Speaker facts you understand and Mr. Speaker we could have gone and had dfc's and have and have dfc because of the dfc's we have the ability to do to have dfc's but Mr. Speaker our response the response our responsible nature of the government will tell you that we understand the inconvenience we are trying our best to assist in the to to limit inconvenience but we are going to in the coming period Mr. Speaker we're going to impact on the bad roads in the country Mr. Speaker I thank you and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution thank you Mr. Speaker