 The territories of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States OECS are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Bastere, which brought the organization into being. Saint Lucia was among the seven territories that signed the treaty. The anniversary comes at a time when the region is facing immense challenges from the fallout of COVID-19. The OECS Commission on Sunday began the observance with a virtual Thanksgiving service in collaboration with NTN. The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States OECS is celebrating four decades of advancing regional integration in the Eastern Caribbean region. The OECS came into being on 18 June 1981 when seven Eastern Caribbean countries signed a treaty agreeing to cooperate and promote unity and solidarity among the members. The treaty became known as a Treaty of Bastere, named in honor of the capital city of St. Kitts and Nevis, where it was signed. The OECS is now an 11-member grouping comprising 7 full member states and 4 associate members. To celebrate the momentous occasion, the OECS has planned 10 major activities, including a Thanksgiving Ecumenical Service, which was held on Sunday. The event began with a prayer and worship session by the staff of the OECS. Our father, sovereign supreme almighty God, we come together in the name of your son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer. To offer worship, praise and thanksgiving for your faithful fountain of unconditional and abiding love to us. Day by day from the mountain tops, valleys and quicksands of our life experiences in the OECS over 40 years. The celebration provides citizens of the OECS an opportunity to reflect on some of the key achievements made towards one main objective, forging one community, growing together for improved lives and a better future. Major milestones were passed in 40 years of regional integration in the eastern Caribbean in multiple areas including education, health, social development, free movement of people and goods, trade, environmental sustainability and cooperation among others. Director-General of the OECS's Excellency Dr. Dr. Drikus Jules highlighted how unity and the solidarity of the eastern Caribbean has aided in the successes of the OECS. As we have walked this road hand in hand over the past 40 years, our understanding of ourselves has evolved. We have come to recognize that the fundamental problems faced by each is common to all. We are awakening to the reality that the things that divide us are less significant than the imperatives that unite us. The celebration of this 40th anniversary is an occasion to celebrate this unification and to remember those moments when one has helped the other, the occasions when we have huddled our warmth against an international climate that has become increasingly frosty. As we give thanks to God today, we must also appreciate the leaders, political and executive, who have started and guided the institutions of the OECS on this journey. We must also remember the adversities over which we have collectively triumphed so that recollection can fortify our future resolve and reinforce our resilience. The God of the day, He's still God in the night, He's still God in the night. Monsignor Patrick Anthony delivered the sermon. He noted that while the OECS has made a number of achievements, there is more that can be done. Like the mustard seed, that salmon tree, that massive tree was once a little seed, was once a little seed, and it grew. And look at the massive tree that has become. For me, that is a symbol of the OECS, our capacity, our potential. That despite the challenges that we face every time, hurricanes go up, tomorrow and what will come. However, we know that within us, as Jesus Christ has said, we have the power, we have the power given by God, we have the spirit of God, we have the capacity. And as Peter came to recognize in Acts 10 when he says, the truth has come to realize that God has no favourites and that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him. We people of the OECS, we have that faith, we have that belief in God, we have that conviction in Christ and we understand what is within us, that capacity, that we can become small maybe, but man, we can become giants. We can become giants and our little OECS seed, we can stand tall before the world. He won't shatter, you are the strongest force of all. Things happening in bed, he was born in Bethlehem, shepherds declared that angels are not his birth, now that caused the stir. When man came asking, where is he that is born king of the Jews? We've seen his star and have come to worship him. Heard was filled with thrones, the babies now a man teaching a new doctrine of compassion and authorities, the crowds are following him, the chief priests and elders are outraged. There is a mom outside the palace hall today.