 Minister for Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise, Development and Consumer Affairs, the Honourable Bradley Felix, Permanent Secretary, the Ministry of Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise, Development and Consumer Affairs, Mrs. Sophia Henry, Chief Executive Officer, Export, St. Lucia, Sonita Daniel, Director, St. Lucia Bureau of Standards, Sir Vern Immanuel, Mr. Immanuel Girard, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise, Development and Consumer Affairs, Executive Director, St. Lucia Manufacturers Association, Mrs. Paula James, Executive Director, St. Lucia Coalition of Services Industries, Mrs. Yvonne Agard, Senior Communications Officer, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, Natural Resources and Corporates, Mr. Philip Sidney, Fishers and the Ministry of Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise, Development and Consumer Affairs, Heads of Departments, Education Officer, Mr. Benedict Joseph, other specially invited guests, viewers of the National Television Network and other social media streams provided by the Government Information Service. Welcome to this official launch of the Love St. Lucia campaign. The main objective of this campaign, of the Love St. Lucia campaign, is to build resilience in the solution economy by encouraging hobby farming, maximizing the potential of local industry, improving consumer awareness and increasing domestic market share of our local manufacturers and service providers, the expected accomplishments, public awareness and sensitization to educate and re-educate consumers on the importance of supporting our local economy, new and wider market reach, including the export markets, to boost local consumer spending and strengthen our local culture, to subvert withdrawal from the circular flow of income and wealth and redirect these resources to build our nation and to contribute towards the development of St. Lucia by consuming more of what we produce, whether it be in agriculture, manufacturing or the service trade. Ladies and gentlemen, I think these are all noble objectives and something which the entire population of St. Lucia would certainly gravitate towards. It gives me great pleasure now to invite Mrs. Sophia Henry, the Permanent Secretary and the Ministry of Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise, Development and Consumer Affairs to deliver her welcome remarks. I would just like to say that we are not using the public announcement this morning, the public address system, because as we understood there's a meeting going on right next door and we are going to try to avoid them as much as possible. So we're hoping that our members would be able to cope. Those of you with the far wings of the room would also be able to hear them all and I'm sure they'll be able to project sufficiently for us to get their addresses. So I'd now like to invite Mrs. Henry to come forward and deliver her welcome remarks. Thank you. Honorable Radhvi Felix, Minister in the Ministry of Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise, Development and Consumer Affairs, thereafter the Ministry of Commerce. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, good morning. As Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Commerce, it is indeed a privilege to welcome you here today at the unveiling of our latest initiative, the rebranding of the Bi-Local Campaign. The Bi-Local Campaign was originally 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, Industry and Agriculture and St. Lucia Industrial and Small Business Association, SLISBA came together in a show of solidarity and support for the manufacturing sector. The aim of which was to make the general public more aware of locally manufactured products and services. This campaign was further strengthened in 2002 with continued partnerships with the St. Lucia Manufacturers Association. Today, the Ministry of Commerce in partnership with other public and private institutions will launch the Bi-Local Campaign under a new brand and tagline. 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. Of equal importance is to increase the consumption of St. Lucia goods and services by visitors irrespective of the purpose of the visit. They must fall in love with our island, people, goods and services. 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. We are confident that supporting local businesses, particularly at this difficult juncture, will result in more money circulating in our communities and more becoming available to develop our St. Lucia. Every fruit and vegetable plant in our backyard will reduce the importation of these agricultural products and increase the consumption of fresh and healthy agricultural produce. Ladies and gentlemen, in closing, I would like to take the opportunity to thank my team members at the Ministry of Commerce for their diligent efforts in building this campaign. I would also like to express my extreme gratitude to all our supporting agencies, including the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Tourism, the St. Lucia Manufacturers Association, the St. Lucia Coalition of Service Industries, and Export St. Lucia for their combined efforts in bringing this campaign from concept to this launch. Moreover, I would like to thank you, the general public, for taking time to share this moment with us and encourage each of you to love and appreciate what is ours. Ladies and gentlemen, love St. Lucia. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mrs. Henry, and I'm sure many of those who are viewing will be able to really relate to some of the comments made by the Permanent Secretary in relation to ensuring the hobby of backyard farming is something that remains in the forefront of their minds. It now gives me great pleasure to welcome the Senior Communication Officer in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, Natural Resources, and Corporates, Mr. Philip Sidney, to the podium. But it also reminds me, especially keeping in line with this team, gentlemen who also served in that capacity previously and been in the supermarket and looking to purchase a produce that was not locally oriented would certainly caution me, comrade, let's buy more local, and we are very happy that we are looking at Cisanumem. So we're going to have Mr. Philip Sidney, who will deliver some remarks for us this morning. Mr. Sidney. Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to adopt a protocol that's already been established. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, Natural Resources, and Corporates is pleased to collaborate with the Ministry of Commerce, International Trade Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs, and other agencies in the official launching of the rebranding of the buy local campaign under the new name, Love St. Lucia. This initiative is long overdue, however, it is timely. COVID opened many doors, not windows, many doors, and I'll come back to that. Years ago, the Department of Agriculture and the Ministry of Commerce collaborated in assisting persons within the cottage industry in assisting them in their progress in agro-processing. We called it the cottage industry at that time, and I can recall from the burial standards we had Mrs. Mittal, who worked with the Ministry of Commerce, and our own Mrs. Amruz, who championed that cause. We worked together, especially in the Region 7 district, and we worked with some farmers in the area in Canaries and Oslavedi, and we saw the birth of Plas Kassav. We also saw the birth of the St. Lucia network of rural women, the clusters, they were four clusters. The Bawono cluster, the Miku cluster, the Anskawet cluster in Laboui, and of course the Cannabel cluster in Canaries. The Department of Agriculture over the years emphasized the consumption of local products, and we had our tagline which is still well alive, Eat Fresh St. Lucia's Best, and we will remain with that tagline even if we have an overall tagline for St. Lucia's product. Government cannot employ everybody, but what they can do is to create the environment for agro-processors to process the produce. And there came the construction of the Fawasso processing plant in Bawono, the Aje processing plant in Miku, and of course we have the Koko fomentary also in Miku, which is soon to be opened. We were able to highlight and expose our agro-processors at our various exhibitions like World Food Day. Last year we had this big World Food Day activity at the sub at VG, and we had in excess of 60 agro-processors showcasing their products. We also had the schools because we need to work with the schools too. They did a lot of work and we have been working with them for years, especially having our cassava product exhibiting out there. I remember we went to Martinique, I led the delegation to Martinique, and we had Barron's Foods and Viking Traders. Today we have seen Barron's Foods have taken off and they are worldwide. The Minister for Agriculture, when he saw the number of agro-processors at that exhibition, called them into a meeting and wanted to find out what was happening with them. We were able to see the number of products that were being produced. They wanted a market for export. They wanted other areas where they could actually do their own processing. So a lot of things came out of this gathering. And today what we have seen, again in addition to those agro-processors, we have Highland poultry farm, we have the Gigi Farms where we are looking at our poultry, and again we need to eat fresh St. Lucia's best. I'm hoping that this lunch is not just going to be a lunch and it's going to stay here. There is need for continuity. In the Ministry of Agriculture we have a project called the Seven Crop Projects, which is we have highlighted lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, sweet pepper, pineapples, and cantaloupe. The import bill on those seven crops was very, very, very high. And I am to tell you today, in 2018 our food import bill was 367 million. In 2019 it was 374. It is soaring. However, five of those crops that we are pushing in the Ministry, there was a reduction. So at least we are seeing a dent in our food import bill when it comes to the regular crops that will grow very easily in St. Lucia. We also need, I'm hoping that at this lunch today is not going to stay here, but we are going to see the increase in the domestic market share. We are going to see an increase in local consumption. We are going to see the enhancement of our tourism industry and of course the creation of employment. We are also hoping to enhance our food and nutrition security. So moving forward, like I said, I'm hoping this lunch is not going to be in that room, but we want to see things happening. Like you heard earlier, by local, each local have been around for a while. The rebranding is important, but yes we rebrand what's going to happen after the rebranding. So moving forward, I would like to say to us here today, agriculture is our business and we need to eat fresh St. Lucia's best. Thank you. And thank you too, Mr. Sidney. We've heard so much about getting the local produce together and there's also the opportunity that we can have them exported as well. And that's why agencies like Expo St. Lucia placed apart. I'd like to call upon the Chief Executive Officer of Expo St. Lucia, Ms. Sunita Daniel, to tell us how her agency impacts on all this local St. Lucia campaign. Ms. Daniel. Thank you. Honorable Bradley Felix, Minister for Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, good morning. As an economist, I can tell you that without a doubt, in small economies such as ours, the driving force is the success of small and medium-sized enterprises. It is a fact that based on the international criteria, even the companies here in St. Lucia that we perceive as big are indeed small. Let me hasten to add though that when it comes to quality, in product and service, we are just as big as any other company or any country in the world. The Love St. Lucia campaign celebrates the excellence and authenticity of St. Lucia business and highlights the contributions that those businesses make to our economy and to our communities. The goal of the campaign is to perpetuate and re-energize the culture of patriotism and accentuate the excellence of St. Lucia-based businesses, products and services. The campaign seeks to give us that feeling we get around independence when nationalism and patriotism are normally at their annual peak. The cerulean blue of our most sacred emblem, the national flag, adorns our buildings, our clothes, our vehicles, and we proudly echo, seemingly in unison, how we love St. Lucia. When asked to present these remarks on the campaign, I had to do some soul searching. I had to analyze my own shopping habits. I had to look inside my cupboards, look inside my shopping cart, look inside my shopping history on a whole. Although largely I buy local, in some instances I had to trustize myself. But when I look inside my heart, my love for my country, my love for St. Lucia stood out more than anything else. We're hoping that that love stands out in everybody else's hearts. Export St. Lucia currently hosts a social media series entitled Export Quality Available Locally. The message behind this series was very simple, and it was brought to the fore from the onset of the COVID-19 impact on St. Lucia. Some of the essential products recommended in the combat against this virus were available locally at the highest quality, from hand sanitizers to pasta, washing up products, and tissue, which were all in high demand. Consumption of these local products increased. And while this may have resulted from other extenuating circumstances, it is our hope that the legacy left behind by COVID will be that we realize and appreciate that what we have available between the borders of our black and white sands and our turquoise waters. Love St. Lucia provides a platform to showcase our best. The Ministry of Commerce and its affiliate agencies and other partners have put their heads together to develop this campaign. Not just a bi-local campaign, but one that reignites the St. Lucia fire and attempts to keep it burning year-round. I implore you, my dear people, to look inside. Look inside your hearts and rediscover that love for St. Lucia. I challenge you as well to look inside your country and discover all that it has to offer. The services that tourists come to enjoy. The food, the world-class ICT services and management consultants. Boo Hingson, Teddison John, Carnival, Denry Segment, the Pitons, Pitau Bay, Bar and Foods, Chairman's Reserve, and the list goes on and on and on and on. These are all export quality available locally. Let's do it for ourselves. Let's do it for our country. Let's all love St. Lucia. Thank you. Thank you very much. This is Daniel and we know that export St. Lucia is playing a very pivotal role in taking the quality of St. Lucia's produce throughout the world. And just on cue, we have the arrival of Ms. Anne Margaret Adams, the Director of Product Development, Ministry of Tourism, Information and Broadcasting. And we invite you, madam, to come up to the podium and deliver your remarks at this morning's Love St. Lucia campaign. Thank you, everyone. Good morning. I came just in time. Let me just accept or adopt the protocol that has been established and wish everybody good morning. On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism, Information and Broadcasting, Culture and Creative Industries, let me take this opportunity to thank the Ministry of Commerce for spearheading this important initiative, particularly in this new environment in which we now operate. The insufficient integration of local suppliers in tourism supply chains has been recognized as an area requiring much attention, and this campaign is necessary as we believe that opportunities for linkages between tourism and the local economic landscape must be fully exploited. Moreover, the sustainability and resilience of our economy heavily depends on the quality and strength of the backward and forward linkages between tourism and the other sectors. The implementation of this campaign is expected to therefore facilitate enhancement of livelihoods and reduction of linkages while providing opportunities to build the industry's competitive advantage by offering demand-driven, authentic experiences involving the local agricultural sector, traditions and gastronomy, and other locally produced goods and services. However, this must be supported by the establishment of clear monitoring and evaluation instruments and systems to ensure that the objectives are met. A coordinated and partnership approach is therefore critical to the success of this program, and the Ministry of Tourism is committed to working with our partners towards executing Love St. Glutia and developing other strategic supporting mechanisms and policies aimed at enhancing local economic development. My final words are to simply congratulate the Ministry of Commerce in the launch of this initiative and to express that the Ministry looks forward to working with you in advancing this local agenda. Thank you very much. We just had the address by Anne Margaret Adams, Director of Product Development, Ministry of Tourism, Information and Broadcasting. And I can assure you that the Honorable Minister for Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise, Development and Consumer Affairs has been looking forward to this day because we can remember just last week during his presentation of the appropriations bill debates in the House of Parliament. He did make mention of this event that was due to take place this morning and indeed very very much into the Love St. Glutia campaign. So it gives me great pleasure now to invite the Honorable Bradley Felix, Minister for Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise, Development and Consumer Affairs to address us. Honorable Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise, Development and Consumer Affairs, Members of the Head Table, Executives, Directors, Staff of the various Government Agencies, Representatives of the Private Sector, Manufacturing Sector, Mission Rep from the Taiwan Embassy. Good morning ladies and gentlemen and of course the media NTN. Good morning. To date, St. Lucia has for the most part been spared the health ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. With 19 reported cases of which all have fully recovered and zero deaths on record, ours is among the best health records in dealing with this pandemic globally. Whilst we have been fortunate thus far in evading the worst from our health standpoint, the same is not true in referencing to the economic fallout that COVID-19 presents. As a small island developing state, St. Lucia, like its counterparts throughout the Caribbean community has been heavily impacted. The tourism and accommodation sector, the main state of the solution economy is of course among the hardest hits globally. It was among the first industries to fill the impact of this pandemic and by all likelihood will be among the last to see a return to normality post-COVID-19. Outside of tourism, much of our productive sectors have paid a heavy price in protecting the health and well-being of our citizenry as border closures, partial and full lockdowns and even the ongoing curfew periods all while necessary measures have led to a crippling of domestic industry. Adding further complication to this dire scenario are the ongoing disruptions in international trade as we see a rising cost of imports. At this time, when unprecedented levels of job loss and reduced economic activity have seen large portions of our middle class now tinkering on the verge of poverty. This economic downturn coupled with increased spending on health has of course placed a great deal of pressure on the government's fiscal position which even under normal circumstances offers limited flexibility. In framing this scenario, ladies and gentlemen, the challenge being posed is thus how can a government respond effectively to the combined threat of a health and economic crisis particularly at a time of budget scarcity? The simple answer alone we cannot. It requires the combined efforts of the public and private sectors as well as civil society. Let's do this together. The onus therefore is on the government and people of St. Lucia to join heads and hearts to stay our nation to its prosperity. Central to this effort is the need for internal reflection, patriotism and national pride as we implement measures that will bring stability to the St. Lucia economy stimulating industry while at the same time reaffirming social nets in order to protect the most vulnerable of our citizenry. We must move past an all governmental approach and into an all of St. Lucia approach as we tackle head on the issues of COVID-19 and its threats to the long-term development and prosperity of our island home. The primary objective of this campaign is twofold or are twofold. One, to float economic activity over the short term in light of the crisis in tourism and goods exports. Two, to pivot St. Lucia's economy towards long-term growth post COVID-19. In this regard and with ongoing consultation with our private sector and civil society partners a number of proposals are currently under review by the Cabinet of Ministers as we maintain a phase approach towards implementation. Under the social stabilization plan announced in April the Honourable Prime Minister had alluded to these measures some of which like the NIC and Employment Relief Program and self-employment subsistence allowance are ready into effect. Today, it gives me great honour to stand before you in unveiling our latest initiative one that is aimed at building resilience within the local economy and sensitizing our populace as to the benefits of supporting local industry and consuming what we grew. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Love St. Lucia. The underlying goal of the Love St. Lucia campaign is to build resilience in the solution economy by encouraging hobby farming maximizing the potential of local industry improving consumer awareness and increasing domestic market share of our local manufacturers and service providers. Love St. Lucia says it all. It's about supporting, encouraging and believing in our people and appreciating our goods and services. The campaign shall seek to subvert the withdrawal from the circular flow of income and wealth and redirect these resources to build our nation. In the short term, the campaign will contribute to stabilizing the local economy by cushioning the impact of reduced foreign income and decreased domestic spending power. This is achieved by pivoting towards domestic consumption ahead of imports thereby increasing the circulation of already limited currency within the economy. In the medium term, a sustained increase in domestic consumption will stare enterprises towards increasing production capacity and improving quality standards which will continue a trend of import substitution leading towards an enhanced share of this domestic market. The long term strategy afforded by this campaign is to use this enhanced domestic market share as a platform for more of our local manufacturers and service providers to venture into exports. As I mentioned exports, literally as soon as I sat this morning I got the fantastic news that Saint Lucia had actually made it as a finalist in the World Trade Awards. And this is, it was for best initiative for inclusive and sustainable trade. And the countries which were into the finals are Austria, Costa Rica, Lithuania, Spain and of course Saint Lucia. The final winner will be announced in October and I wish Saint Lucia the very best and I hope that we come out on top. I want to take the opportunity to also congratulate Export Saint Lucia for the incredible work that they have been doing in this field and I would, with your assistance, round of applause to the Executive Director. In order to achieve our objectives, the Government of Saint Lucia will ensure a more effective implementation of its procurement policies, which require government agencies to support domestic industry, in particular our micro, small and medium enterprises where the goods and services are produced or delivered locally. Now we have heard that before. Many years ago there was a cabinet conclusion asking that all procurement by government agencies which could be sourced locally be purchased locally because we have the quality. And so, you know, it's very unsettling, for example, if Baudelaire wants to purchase mattresses and you hear that Baudelaire is purchasing mattresses from Trinidad when we do produce the quality of mattresses in Saint Lucia. So a lot of this is hearsay or talk, sorry, a lot of talk, but are we really practicing it? And so there must be a level of accountability by procurement officers and I'm hoping that the permanent secretaries in the room and those who are hearing will take this very seriously. We cannot just be all about talk. We must walk the talk and support what we produce. So I just wanted to verify on this just for a little while. With this, it is our aim to direct the consumption power of the public sector more effectively towards national development. However, government procurement is but one piece of the puzzle in achieving success. We also need to support and combine consumption power of our citizens and of our business community as we lean on each other, one supporting the other, all moving in unison towards the light at the end of a dark COVID-19 tunnel. By consuming more of what we produce as a nation and conversely by producing more of what we consume, whether it be in agriculture, manufacturer or service trade, we each contribute to the development of our country. As individual consumers, we can, through our purchasing decision, bolster local industry and enhance national food security. Similarly, we can, through our individual and collective efforts, increase our nation's productivity and develop a level of self-sufficiency that will enable solution to become a more independent and economically diverse nation. This is the power of each and every solution citizen. It is in this light that we urge all solutions, regardless of gender, religion, persuasion or political persuasion to support this initiative. Support our local fishermen and farmers who venture out to the seas and to their fields while most of us are still in bed. Support our manufacturers, our bakers, our agro-processors who help maintain our food security, delivering quality time after time. Support our service professionals from the engineers and architects who help build this nation to the hairstylists, florists and artisans who help beautify it. We ask that you open your eyes in the realization that there is quality available on our island. I repeat, we ask that you open your eyes in the realization that there is quality available on our island. Quality that is worthy of our hard-earned dollar. Permit me to quote the work of noted economist and author Michael H. Schumann in saying, and I quote, Going local does not mean walling off the outside world. It means nurturing locally owned businesses which use local resources sustainably, employ local workers at decent wages and serve primarily local consumers. It means becoming more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports. I put it to you, ladies and gentlemen, if you go only by the square mile count or by population, then St. Lucia is indeed a very tiny island. But if you consider the wealth of our culture, the resilience of our people and the strength of our will, make no mistake, we are a great nation. One that has stood before in the face of crisis and overcome. One that will now stand before this COVID-19 crisis and again overcome. In urging your support, I am reminded of the worlds of our national anthem where one line in particular grabs at me. Wheresoever you may roam, love or love our island home. Ladies and gentlemen, let's support and appreciate what's ours. Love, St. Lucia. Say, Sanu. I thank you. Thank you very much, Minister Bradley Felix, for those very inspiring words. And like you, I'd like to echo the wish that St. Lucia will be very successful in the announcement of the winners of that competition due to be announced in October. Well, just like many campaigns, the Love, St. Lucia campaign carries with it a logo. And right now we're going to have the unveiling of the logo via a pre-recorded video. So let's have the unveiling of the video, the pre-recorded video. A doctor of finance. So that is my second calling. And it is from Art that I get my peace and quiet from that financial aspect of my job. I've been doing the St. Lucia Taiwanese show for the past four years, of course, showing my artwork. And then I was called upon to do that piece for the Ministry of Commerce. Of course I was excited because I've never done a piece like that. Normally it would be my own creation and then I let others enjoy it. And with this St. Lucia flag, I wanted to give respect to the designer so I wanted to get the colors right. Now the background was supposed to be white. And I didn't want it to clash, which is the Tumali's clash with the white inside the heart. So I had to do the background last, which is not normal for me. Normally the first thing I paint would be my background. But in this case I had to leave it last and then do the heart. And then with the white for the background, I had to make sure that white was different from the white inside the heart. So I gave it a little bit of blue, which shows as a reflection in the white. And that is how I got this piece going. I hold this piece very dear to my heart because the St. Lucia flag is very important to me and I hope it is to all St. Lucia's. And the focus remains on supporting St. Lucia with its local products and services. And now the big moment, not necessarily a drum roll, but we're going to actually have an unveiling right here in the room. Thanks to Rufan Philipp and Sir Marvin St. Louis. Ladies and gentlemen, right before your eyes, the Love St. Lucia campaign logo just unveiled and to just give you a brief description on the logo just to back up what Dr. Isaac just told us. Since the brand St. Lucia has been approved by the government to market the island as a whole, adopting it for the Love St. Lucia campaign will help with promoting national pride and increase in local consumption of local products and services. Using the brand could simultaneously increase visitor patronage since it would be familiar to them. St. Lucia is regarded as having a premier tourism product. Thus, the St. Lucia brand would evoke a similar sentiment towards locally produced goods and services. The yellow heart shape is meant to mimic the hands heart shape which has gained recognition and popularity worldwide. This hand heart shape that encloses the flag symbolizes that we should love St. Lucia, love what is ours, say Sanu. Ladies and gentlemen, the logo for the Love St. Lucia campaign. And as we continue with our program, we now invite the executive director of the St. Lucia Manufacturers Association, Mrs. Paula James, to address us. Mrs. James. Good morning all. I would like to adopt protocol which has already been established. On behalf of the executive and members of the St. Lucia Manufacturers Association, it is a pleasure to participate in this rebranding of the Bi-Local campaign. New theme being Love St. Lucia. As it is an avenue for local manufactured products to be showcased. During COVID-19, it was quite evident that local products was of high importance to St. Lucia as it became very urgent for us to ensure that of our food security. St. Lucia should be proud of the quality of products manufactured locally as they meet international standards. We in the LECs, which is the OECS, have been given the opportunity by Caracum through Article 164 to expand and grow our high quality products regionally, thus increasing our market share. Out of the 24 items in this regime, four are essential to our food security and two are vital to our sustainability of our health sector. This has been in existence for the past nine years and in 2020, a further renewal was granted to include three more item products. We are therefore encouraging all St. Lucia to become a part of this Love St. Lucia campaign in an effort to support the growth and development of our economy. As this will mean more jobs for St. Lucia and our foreign currency will remain in St. Lucia, thus helping the GDP of our country to grow. I thank you. And we would also like to announce that the design of the logo was done by Mr. Danny Mooney of Expo St. Lucia. A round of applause for him, please. The Executive Director of the St. Lucia Coalition of Services Industries, Ms. Yvonne A-Gard was with us very early this morning. She had been very patient with us in being able to get our thoughts together. We now invite her to deliver her remarks. The Executive Director of St. Lucia Coalition of Services Industries, Ms. Yvonne A-Gard. Honourable Bradley Felix, Minister in the Ministry of Commerce, International Trade Investment Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, good morning. The adage reminds us that charity begins at home. COVID-19 has driven home the lesson in that statement. The Love St. Lucia campaign is not about charity, it's about supporting our own. We are building the fresh to market goods and services that we produce and becoming more self-sustaining as a people, as a nation. This initiative is a movement that should be sustained long after COVID to ensure that our service providers are considered first and foremost in the procurement of goods and services. Despite the challenges of COVID-19, the opportunities have been created, not least of which is the ingenuity of local farmers to package local produce for delivery to customers or the making of trendy and fashionable face masks by local seamstresses. The Love St. Lucia movement is seeking to change the perception of our micro and small businesses. It's educating consumers about the difference locally owned businesses make in their community and in our country. It's about uniting small businesses to embrace competition and succeed by creating a mindset among consumers that homegrown is our own. It's authentic, it's original, it's fresh, it's healthier, it's better. The Love St. Lucia campaign shines the spotlight on our small businesses. The measurable difference in their communities and consumers are paying attention. Whether or not you choose to get involved in the Love St. Lucia movement, your business will likely benefit from it. So we encourage you to get on board right now. A National Services Policy and Strategy and Action Plan was adopted by the Government of St. Lucia in 2017. One of its main objectives is to create the enabling environment to stimulate the development of four key services sector, namely professional services, health and wellness, ICT and creative industries. One of the core elements of the policy is the promotion of services across all government entities and the private sector. The Love St. Lucia concept is an initiative that can support and enforce that recommendation. As government ministries make full use of the competence and capabilities within St. Lucia, for this to be effective, we have to ensure equity and competitiveness in the procurement of goods and services within government. This can begin by the development of procurement policies and enacting of legislation so that service providers feel confident in the system. At SLCSI, we would like to see a policy direction that would, as far as its practical, see the demonstrated procurement of services from local service providers. Procurement of services from external sources results in flight of capital, does not engender confidence in, nor support the growth of local service providers. Wherever possible, local firms should be encouraged to collaborate to build capacity and synergy and achieve economies of scale. St. Lucia has a wide spectrum of service providers. Under business services, you have your architects, your engineers, management consultants, accountants who understand our local context and are very capable of providing solutions to the current challenges brought on by COVID and beyond. For example, they would assist remodeling, strategic planning and building resilience. Our competent professionals in the ICT sector can assist our SMEs transitioning to digital platform and provide services online. Not only to the domestic market, but to the rest of the world, creating more adept, efficient and profitable business through the use of technology. Let's support our practitioners in the cultural industries. Instead of downloading free music from YouTube, let's pay the 99 cents to download and consume their music. Let's start reading or buying the work of our local writers and encourage our families to do so. For example, don't books with her peanut series, the use of local animation as communication tools to reach audiences with our message. Let us utilize the services of our indigenous diaspora and wellness centers to improve our health and well-being. By engaging these professionals, the money remains in St. Lucia and circulates within our economy. That way, we can be assured of the trickle-down effect of our dollar, which can be measured and traced. Our SMEs, they purchase local raw materials, they create employment, they pay taxes, and they keep our economy going. Most of our service providers are certified in the field of expertise, and they do meet national, regional and international standards and have provided services to regional and international clients. The St. Lucia Bureau of Standards has been working assiduously with our local service providers in assisting them in meeting those standards. St. Lucia has over 400 national standards which are available for local producers, service providers and manufacturers to access and use. Additionally, they have access to over 30,000 standards through international affiliations. Almost every sector or business process can get support through available standards. Whereas standard does not exist, there is opportunity for development or adoption. Standards are considered the best practice for business or process improvement, cost savings, quality assurance and more. Standard give an advantage having documented the practical application of what should be done for a product or service joined from the expertise of the best mind in an industry or sector. The SLCSI, which is the private sector umbrella organization for the service sector, welcomed this initiative to shine the spotlight on our service industry and their contribution to national development. The many capacity-building and policy initiative supported by the SLCSI is testament of its commitment to grow the St. Lucia services sector. The Love St. Lucia campaign provides an opportunity for us to collect valuable baseline data to measure effectively the impact and contribution of local spend, which can assist in more focused policy formulation and dedicated support for our local MSME sector. I thank you. Now that we've seen why these persons were seated at the head table, we move into the next aspect of our program. We're going to listen to a jingle. There's no collage, but we're going to have the jingle followed by the display of prizes that are going to be viewed. A little earlier, so let's have the jingle, please. I've been given a task of displaying the prizes that are going to be up for grabs by the members of the public, the giveaways to the public and the viewers with their 13, and we're hoping that we can get a pan and get a lovely shot of those products that are going to be available. 13 handmade creations from our talented entrepreneurs and artisans. I'll re-wait to get the shot. Okay. And the businesses are not med-limited, Christy creations, illuminating designs, ACR wines, health nuts, Frances Robb, Fudgies, Sayana yoga, Caribbean hand-crafted soaps, Vells multi-services limited, Wireworlds, Viola's interior designs, and Abbey's exotic blends. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure there's some names that you might not have been too familiar with and certainly an ideal opportunity to get familiar with them. The first 12 persons to comment on what the Love Saint Lucia campaign means to them, under the live stream with the hashtag Love Saint Lucia, say Sanu will win a prize. The Ministry of Commerce will be contacting the winners of the prizes following the launch. All winners will be photographed with their prizes. Very interesting. Ladies and gentlemen, we've had quite an interesting morning and we've been inspired and even brought up to date a number of local entrepreneurs and artisans. We've come to the point where we're going to have some closing remarks. I'm Mrs. Leander, colleague, business development officer, Ministry of Commerce, international trade, investment, enterprise development, and consumer affairs. Good morning. Let me adopt the protocol as already established. Today's launch signals the beginning of a long and exciting journey for the people of Saint Lucia, especially owners of micro, small and medium enterprises and the final consumers of their products and services. We trust that you would understand the importance of supporting our very own MSMEs and dispel the myth that Saint Lucia products and services are inferior. In Saint Lucia, we have our very own industry leaders like Barron Foods, winning two silver medals at the mode selection 2019 Quality Awards for its banana ketchup and sweet chili Thai sauce products. Algas Organics, the Caribbean's first indigenous agricultural biotech manufacturing company founded on our beautiful island of Saint Lucia, owned by Joan and Dujo. 3D printing business by Coyote James, a birding young entrepreneur who has been able to meet the challenges of COVID-19 and adopted his process to produce the much needed personal protective equipment, face shields for frontline workers. There are many more successful entrepreneurs delivering world-class products and services right here in Saint Lucia. Remember, when you support homegrown business, you are not only supporting the dreams of our own people, but you are helping to create and sustain employment. You are helping a mother or father to put food on the table, a family to pay rent or mortgage, a child to get much needed school supplies. When you spend $1 in a local business, it is recirculated in the economy and overall this leads to increased economic activity. Given the benefits of supporting our own, we encourage you to participate in the upcoming activities which will be outlined in a calendar of activity events. This calendar is a collaboration of activities of all public and private sector partners providing us with a reminder that the campaign doesn't stop with the launch. Supporting our own is the way to go, especially in the face of COVID-19. When we need to generate the level of economic activity required for our sustainability, let us not only support the upcoming activities, but let this be our lifestyle, our motto, our modest operandi. As we all know, love begins at home. So let the love-solution mindset be instilled in everything that you do. Eat, breathe, sleep, explore, experience everything-solution. Love-solution. Say, Sanu. I thank you. And what a wonderful reminder for us as we have come to the end of our program. Based on the time we started on the allotted time that you had for this program, I think we've well within our time. So I'd like to thank all of those who came to the lecture and spoke and for all the organizers for helping us achieve that target. But I have a couple of minutes that I can use up just to ensure that we use the proper time. I've been inspired to continue additionally and play my own part because I know that most of us there are in one way or the other at some point in time where your fingers are green or not. That we try to plan something along the way whether it's in our balconies, a backyard which is the most space. But I'm sure that having followed this program today we are much more convinced that Sanucia will benefit from this and the love-solution campaign can only kick off and continue in a way that you want and as I was reminded so many years ago in the supermarket that we need to make choices that would benefit overall COVID-19 and definitely reassured us that we need to keep everything as much as possible within the shores of Sanucia because you'll notice what has happened and what we've been forced to do in terms of becoming self-reliant as much as we can. So I think the campaign the love-solution campaign will continue to show us that light and I'm happy that you were able to be here this morning to share all the values of such a campaign. I'd like to thank members from the ministry who gave me this opportunity to be with you this morning and just one final comment as we close we're going to have some refreshments we understand that we're going to head towards that door to my left and I've also been advised that we should pay the compliment to members at the head table and to allow them to exit first towards the refreshment area so on behalf of all of us here including the ministry I'd like to thank the hard-working staff of the Government Information Service and the National Television Network for this launch live this morning and also live stream. Ladies and gentlemen, we continue to implore that you love St. Lucia follow the campaign and that you have a very pleasant day. We love St. Lucia campaign official launch has just concluded and it begins rebranding of our by-local promotion here in St. Lucia we've seen that the by-local was being pushed by some steam admittedly in the last few years and it is hoped that with this love St. Lucia campaign we can resuscitate this vigorous approach to letting the public know the benefits of purchasing and supporting local businesses whether it be manufacturers or taking advantage of services that are locally based and so we've just seen the launch of St. Lucia campaign this morning markets in your calendar 30th of June 2020 here still hoping in the next few months next few years we can begin to see the effects of this new this new input into us trying to stimulate the economy at this time we know the lifeline that was tourism is we don't know what's happening with it as yet with what is going on globally in the world but to COVID-19 and at this time we did hear the Prime Minister acknowledging that aspects like the construction manufacturing being looked to to help sustain the economy and keep the economy afloat at this time and so a part of the stimulating the economy is part of the government's economic recovery and the resilience plan and we do hope that we see more and more businesses themselves not only the general public but more businesses coming on board supporting the movement joining the movement because it will all go well for them as well and this morning we did see the Minister for Commerce International Trade Investment Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs speaking on the benefits of this rebranded by local campaign the love St. Lucia campaign the now love St. Lucia campaign and we also saw the St. Lucia Manufacturers Association Representative and the person of Executive Director Ms. Paula James as well as the St. Lucia Coalition of Service Industries the Executive Director Ms. Yvonne Agard throwing their support behind the love of St. Lucia campaign the launch of the logo the unveiling of the logo we saw with the Dr. Veronica Isaac and she painted the logo as well as hello as well as the jingle that was released I think we should get the names of the two artists who penned and produced the jingle for the love St. Lucia campaign all efforts all hands on their creative and otherwise multi-sectoral approach to ensuring that St. Lucia can still float and rebound from the effects of COVID-19 as promoting what is our own. Yes, thank you so much we are very happy to have the St. Administrations in Angiola Point Serofin and we have also come here to support local service business and be careful if you buy a lot of money because you don't have money to sell here but we are from different sectors these people here who have developed their skills, we have come here and we have a symbol that has been used for consideration and it is a symbol that symbolizes our own attention and symbolizes our own chain and it is a symbol that has been used for the love of St. Lucia and we are here to help our own and to make our own friends and friends of St. Lucia and we have come here to support local service business and St. Lucia and we are here to support people who have been eating here and people who have been far away who have been here and the last evening we came here to help people and we have come here to support local service business and we have come here 9 people who have already supported the local services. And it's the same with our people. If we continue, as I said, it's not just today, but if we continue because of COVID-19, we have the direction we want to go. We have the support of the local people. If they want to come to the economy, we have the support of the local people. Absolutely. Another silver lining of the COVID-19 reality that we've had to face. The fast-tracking of construction activity, the fast-tracking of many of the plans that have long been in the pipelines. But now that we've seen, we need to stimulate the economy. We need to get other sectors going to fill the gap of the tourism sector. Absolutely. At this time, we do see this bi-local, rebranded bi-local campaign, the new title dubbed Love St. Lucia campaign coming into effect. It's all the time we have for now. We'd like to thank you so much for tuning in for those of you who watched for the entire duration of this morning's launch. Thank you so much. Do stay tuned for more updates on the Love St. Lucia campaign, how it evolves. I'm interested in seeing how it will evolve going forward. So stay tuned for that as well. We're signing off for now. Jesse Layons, Carlton Cyril signing off for now. But do stay tuned for more NTN programming coming up.