 Welcome to the MTN Nightly, I'm Nisha Charles. This edition stops stories. A new dawn for the agriculture industry in St. Lucia. Our going chair of CARACOM calls for structural reform of the organization and improved healthcare services coming to Nipunor. The agriculture economy is expected to reap the fruits of investments made in the industry in 2019 as the ministry continues to improve the efficiency and safety of our local food systems and the sustainability and resilience of rural livelihoods amidst the ever-changing global agriculture trade environment. Amanda Faye-Clock tells us more. Agriculture Minister Hon. Ezekiel Joseph has lauded the efforts of his ministry in successfully implementing a number of activities on the priority projects in 2019. Speaking at the first meeting for agriculture project leaders and heads of departments for 2020, Minister Joseph underscored the need to maintain momentum and for all departments to work progressively to meet targets set out in the work plan for this year. We also intend to transform the new agricultural station into an eco-tourism pact. And what's happening at the Gabriel Charles Forestry Complex is not a mistake. It's deliberate. Because when I had the opportunity to meet with Mr. Martin Goof in South Africa, he said, look, you have to make a contribution to St. Lucia. And why don't you start converting the Gabriel Charles complex into an educational center? And he agreed. Unfortunately, we have not been able to open it, but I'm optimistic that this facility will be open during the year 2020 where we can provide a facility where we can educate our children and, of course, for tourists who come and be involved in the whole aspect of environmental protection and environmental aspects and, of course, for us to recreate. Steady strides in responding to the needs of the agri-food sector and proactive investments in infrastructure and support systems remain the focus for Minister Joseph. According to him, the current approach to agri-development does support the government of St. Lucia's goal of addressing major trends and challenges that may impact the future of St. Lucia's food security, rural agricultural modernization and livelihoods and the diversified agricultural economy. This year, all of us have to go out there and speak to the programs and the policies that we are responsible for. It can be the PS and the ministers alone. We are doing good work. I want to hear the respective heads and program leaders, you know, engage our information units as to the many programs they have to articulate, to educate, to encourage participation of the programs that we are implementing. 2020 is said to be another year of growth for the agriculture industry and as much as there were lessons learned from the challenges of 2019, much success is expected to be recorded by the end of this year. From the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Amanda Fiqloch reporting. Outgoing Chairman of the Caribbean Community Caricum, Prime Minister Hon. Shasne, has called for structural reform of the organization. The Prime Minister's tenure at the helm of Caricum ended on December 31, 2019. Hon. Shasne says that while the work of Caricum is ongoing, progress must be made and felt at every level. Sadly, I was not able to make it to Guyana to meet with the staff and to be able to interact with them. I was not able to spend any time looking at those structures because we were overwhelmed with both situations in St. Lucia and also other issues within Caricum, Haiti being a very big one. Again, very early we were supposed to have a trip to Haiti. Unfortunately, things got much worse. They have seemed to have settled down a little bit, but that continues to remain a hot topic for us to be able to discuss. Hon. Shasne believes that regional organizations should achieve one of two things, improving the quality of governance and a reduction in the cost of governance. One is to improve the quality of governance in our country. It means that the quality of my health care, the quality of my education system, the quality of my security system ought to be enhanced by regional participation. Secondly, the cost of governance should come down. By sharing some of these things, the cost for me should come down, but ideally what you want is both. You want to see a reduction in cost and an improvement in the overall quality. Prime Minister of Bombayda's Hon. Mia Motley will hold the seat of chair of the organization for six months beginning January 1, 2020. Hon. Shasne was speaking during a special production of Year in Review 2019 produced by the National Television Network. The production will air the week beginning Monday, January 13, 2020. Residents of Miku North can look forward to improved health care services as construction of the Miku Wellness Center is soon to begin. The contract for the project was signed earlier this week. The project will be undertaken under the Disaster for Neurability Reduction Project, which is being financed by the World Bank. Parliamentary representative from Miku North, Hon. Dr. Gail Rigabert, welcomed the project. I wish to thank my colleague minister, the Hon. Guy Joseph and his ministry for their diligence, their steadfastness, for their responsiveness on every occasion that we asked for a community meeting or consultation. They were readily available to explain to Mikudians what the challenges were and the progress being made. And here we are today, confident that within the next couple of days we will see some construction taking place and finally the Miku Wellness Center will be built. The minister says the new facility will encourage persons seeking medical care to do so within their community rather than seeking a more costly alternative at the hospitals. She thanked the residents and healthcare professionals for their patience thus far. I wish to thank the residents. I know that they have had to endure some very significant challenges of the last few years, both as patients or as persons engaged or employed in the health sector. I want to thank the nurses. I want to thank the doctors, the pharmacists, the health aid workers for their patience and understanding during this period. I know what they went through. I've had to resolve some of their problems in the meantime. But all of this is now behind us to the extent that we are sure to see the construction of the Miku Health Center. And that was Parliamentary Representative for Miku North, Honourable Dr. Gail Rickerbert. Main time work is progressing with the reconstruction of the St. Jude's Hospital. The project will deliver a 90-bed facility that will cater for both inpatient and outpatient services. The project involves the construction of a new wing to incorporate all the functions and services of the existing east and surgical wings. It will also see integration through retrofitting of some existing buildings to achieve a fully functioning hospital to match the services of a level-four facility and the revision of the internal layout of buildings to be integrated for functional efficacy and compliance to minimum standards. Given that the previous buildings were not built to standard for a hospital, government is currently negotiating with several institutions to allow for the establishment of a medical university in the buildings which were previously constructed. This will serve as a strategic move as it will allow both the hospital and the university to benefit from the services and opportunities of each other. And this is the NTN Nightly. We'll be back in a moment. I am competitive. I am productive. I am creative. I constantly improve what I do and how I do it. I am output-oriented. I never supplement. I give of my best always. The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council embracing excellence. Welcome back. The Department of Health and Wellness continues to make maternal and child health a major priority by enhancing programs to monitor the health of children. More in this report from Fennel Neptune. The Department of Health and Wellness recently launched the new National Child Health Record and revised maternal, child and adolescent health manual aimed at improving maternal and child health inclusion. The new National Child Health Record will serve as a tool to monitor child's growth, development and use of health services from both to five years. Principal nursing officer for Denry Hospital, Alicia Baptist, spoke on the significance of the maternal and child health manual. This manual is a booklet containing information on safe pregnancy, delivery and child health. It ensures continuity of care and provides health education to parents. As such, it will prove to be an effective tool in promoting and protecting the health of mothers and children. Maternal and child health has and continues to be a major priority area for the government of St. Lucia and the community nursing service. Minister for Health and Wellness, Senator the Honourable Mary Isaac says she is extremely pleased with the launch of the Child Health Record and revised maternal and child health manual as it demonstrates the ministry's commitment to improving maternal and child health service delivery. The manual is a guide for practice in the management and care of mothers, fathers and babies. Both documents help to support SDG 3, which is good health and well-being, and SDG 5, gender equality. I am very impressed that throughout this presentation this morning and in the book itself, there is an emphasis on mother, father and child. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Millen-Fedriks James says she is extremely grateful for the support of individuals from both the public and private sector working to ensure the establishment of the new Child Health Record and revised maternal and child health manual. Dr. Fedriks James also spoke on the great strides made to improve maternal and child health. We have been undergoing many, many initiatives. Maybe you will hear others speak more about the other initiatives that we have been involved in. I know many of you have been involved in training, so we have been doing a lot of training for caring for pregnant mothers, caring for newborns, especially children that have born with some difficulty or preterm births, etc. And we will continue those efforts to ensure that we have healthy mothers, healthy babies and healthy children throughout the lifespan. The new National Child Health Record will be rolled out in January 2020. Reporting from the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, I am Fennel Neptune. As St. Lucia prepares for its upcoming population and housing census, officers of the OECS Statistical Services Unit and the Central Statistics Office have been trained in the computation of population estimates during inter-sensual years. The five-day training workshop facilitated by Statistics Canada sought to design a methodology for OECS countries to compute population estimates outside the population census years and to ensure the use of harmonized methodology among all OECS member states for regionally comparable data. Population data is required to calculate many social and economic indicators, for example, gross domestic products per capita and several indicators for the sustainable development goals. Countries are currently using a simple population growth rate to estimate only the total annual population to allow these indicators to be calculated. Participants discussed and agreed on the estimation method was most suitable for OECS member states. They also received practical guidance and benefited from hands-on experience in producing both aggregated mid-year population estimates as well as estimates disaggregated by key social and demographic and geographical characteristics such as age, sex, single age groups, as well as five-year age cohorts. Affordable and accessible transportation is a major factor in fulfilling CARICOM's growth potential. So says Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque as he reflected on the progress CARICOM made in 2019. Michelle Nurse has more. In his end-of-year message to the community, Ambassador LaRocque said that when the Multilateral Air Services Agreement becomes fully operational, there will be increased options in intra-regional air travel for people and cargo. The Air Services Agreement removes restrictions on routes, capacity or traffic rights for signatory countries. The Secretary-General noted that opportunities have also been widened for the private sector with the agreement on the Protocol for Public Procurement. When that is fully implemented, he said, it will open up a lucrative market as individuals and firms will have the opportunity to bid for public sector contracts in all CSME-participating member states. The Department of Infrastructure, Ports and Energy wishes to inform the public of the commencement of road rehabilitation works scheduled along the Four Nathanial Causeway in Derry-Saw and add the approach to the VJ Bridge on Monday, January 13, 2020. The scope of works include construction of concrete pavement, drains, reinstating of gabion walls, laying the base material and a concrete wearing surface. These works are expected to be completed within 30 days. During the execution, motorists are advised to prepare for delays of approximately 30 minutes when travelling through the project site. All commuters are asked to be guided by road signs, which will be placed for their information and guidance. All users should exercise due diligence in the immediate vicinity of the work sites. The Department of Infrastructure, Ports and Energy wishes to apologize for any inconveniences which may be caused as a result of the road works but assures the public that these interventions are important for general road safety. And this is the NTN Nightly. We'll be right back. What is money laundering? Money laundering is the concealment of the origins of illegally obtained money, typically by means of transfers involving financial institutions or legitimate businesses. There are three steps in the process of money laundering. One, placement. This is the movement of illegitimately obtained cash from its source into circulation through financial institutions. Two, layering. This is the act of concealing the source of that money using a series of complex transactions and bookkeeping tricks. Three, integration. This is the movement of previously laundered money into the economy, mainly through the financial institutions and thus such monies appear to be normal business earnings. What is terrorist financing? Terrorist financing provides funds for terrorist activity. It may involve funds raised from legitimate sources such as donations, profits from businesses and charitable organizations, as well as from criminal sources such as the drug trade, the smuggling of weapons, fraud, kidnapping and extortion. There is an interrelation between terrorist financing and proliferation financing, which is the act of providing funds or financial services used in the acquisition, manufacture or transport of weapons of mass destruction. How does money laundering and terrorist financing affect St. Lucia? St. Lucia can lose its reputation and international credibility, more violent and organized crimes and corruption, penalties for the financial sector and loss of correspondent banking. St. Lucia will be evaluated in 2019 with respect to its money laundering and terrorist financing regimes. How can you help? Get involved. Learn about the threat that money laundering and terrorist financing pose to St. Lucia and cooperate with financial and non-financial institutions when information is requested. Money laundering and terrorist financing are crimes with penalties of up to $1 million and imprisonment of up to 10 years or both. A message brought to you by the National Anti-Money Laundering Oversight Committee and the Attorney General's Chambers. And as the looker was happening to us, whether wise. Partly cloudy skies occasionally becoming cloudy with some scattered showers. The Atlantic high pressure system will continue to generate strong easterly winds across the eastern Caribbean region during the next few days. Low level cloud drifting along the easterly wind flow will cause a few showery periods over our region during the next 24 hours. Tides for castries harbor, high at 3.08pm, low at 10.04pm. Tides for Viewford Bay, high at 4.15am, low at 11.31pm. Seas, locally rough to rough with waves and northerly to north easterly swells 8 to 12 feet or 2.4 to 3.7 meters. Small craft operators and sea bathers are advised to exercise extreme caution due to strong winds and rough seas. The sun will rise Saturday at 6.30am. And that brings us to the end of the NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7pm with a repeat at 7am. You can also catch up with us anytime on the Selenusha Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I'm Leisha Trouse.