 The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries Rural Development and Food Security has joined efforts with the Departments of Health and Education for the purpose of expressing their commitment to collaborate and integrate efforts to achieve the common aim of enhancing school gardens and the school feeding programme in St Lucia. The school feeding programme aims to reduce hunger and improve food security in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for poverty and malnutrition. The memorandum of understanding forges greater international coordination of efforts for an improved and sustained national school feeding programme. Permanent Secretary of the Department of Education Michelle Charles asserts that the school feeding programme benefits not only students but also parents, farmers and entire communities. We have noted the impact that insufficient or poor nutrition has had on our students. We are familiar too with scenarios where the absence of the school feeding programme correlates closely with high absenteeism in schools and we are all too cognizant of what can happen to our school-aged children who slip through the education cracks in parts due to lack of food and fall prey to social ills. I say all of this to emphasize the point that the implementation of initiatives such as these have a far-reaching impact and augur well for our communities and society as a whole. This memorandum of understanding is supported by the CARICOM FAO Mexico Initiative, Cooperation for Climate Change, Adaptation and Resilience in the Caribbean. National Project Coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Organization's School Feeding Program, Sherriann Smith, explains that the framework of the initiative in light of COVID-19 supports participating countries in their efforts to protect livelihoods, ensure adequate access to healthy foods and ensure sustainable management of natural resources. The Sustainable School Feeding Program initiative is based on activities such as the involvement of the educational committee, the adaptation of adequate and healthy school meals, implementation of educational school gardens, improvement of school kitchens and storage areas, direct purchases of product from local farmers and school gardens, improvement of the national school feeding policy in St. Lucia, an assessment of the health assessment of students. Our understanding is that school feeding in St. Lucia, as elsewhere, have long been established and recognized as an important instrument in facilitating learning, especially for poor and vulnerable children. Healthy and well-nourished children learn better. Representative from the Mexican Embassy based in St. Lucia, Carlos Ivan Gonzales Osuna, underlines the Mexican government's commitment to aid in St. Lucia and deepening diplomatic ties. It is for me an honor and a satisfaction to participate in this ceremony that marks the launch of the part of the implementation of the project on resilient school feeding implementation program, which is part of the Mexico-Caricom FAO initiative, cooperation for climate change, adaptation and resilience in the Caribbean. Recently reoriented in order to mitigate the economic and social impacts generated by the COVID-19 disease and which has a budget of more than five and a half million U.S. dollars, the entire initiative, which benefit 14 countries in the region including the six Eastern Caribbean states. The memorandum of understanding took place on Thursday, September 30, 2021, at the Tissue Culture Conference Room in Union. From the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anicia Antoine reporting.