 Just to think about what you think the impact of such an initiative will have on those, I guess, those people who were impacted by that pandemic and the vulnerable populations. Okay, thanks for asking this question. In fact, my comment this morning I have to do with, in addition to the $1,500 that would be given to approximately 5,000 persons, last week we rolled out an additional $50,000 for the feeding program for persons around, people who are involved in feeding, like Feed the Poor, the churches and what have you. So under that same program, income support that we provided these individuals who are involved, the churches, Feed the Poor and other NGOs, we distributed support totaling $50,000. That's in keeping with the support under the COVID response. So yes, this is critical, very critical and of course I cannot help but to continue to ask persons to support these initiatives, support when we do these things for our vulnerable population. I know that there are times we take these things for granted. It's easy to be having a hard sleep. What I call a hard sleep means sleeping on concrete on the city. A simple depression in your life and without taking medication, some problem can cause you to be on the streets. And to know that you have a society that will reach out to you in these difficult times I think is very encouraging and we need to support this. Persons who lost their job and have not recovered and even some of them are trying to get out, they know it is their responsibility to do better for themselves and nobody owes them. But they are having a difficult time. So when we announced that they would be receiving $1,500 a month of November, I mean it's an exciting, they are happy about it. They are looking towards this thing with some hope. They can take care of a few bills and start over. Some people just need to pay off a few utility bills, maybe to take care of the internet bill and the phone bill so that the children could get onto their homework having their Wi-Fi in touch and what have you. So the homes that have been affected by COVID it has affected their capacity to respond to basic needs, water, electricity. These are challenging areas. Some of them have indicated that they will take care of some of those outstanding bills. So yes, this is very impactful and I'm happy that more than approximately 5,000 persons would be benefiting 5,000 households and do not just think of it in terms of 5,000 persons, but when this gets into the home and using the statistics in terms of 3.2 persons per household you're really talking about almost 15,000 persons benefiting from an intervention like this. And it's good for the children going to school knowing that when I get home there's going to be Wi-Fi, there's electricity, mommy has taken care of the water bill and the water view, the arrays and what have you on it. It also affects the atmosphere at home because when you do have these outstanding issues at home it affects families, it affects relationships, it contributes to a whole host of things and even lead to domestic violence and we talk about gender-based violence. All of these are contributing factors. So yes, the support for the income support is one that I support and I think you need to add your voice, not just report it but you have an opinion, you should add your voice to it and the $50,000 to feeding people around the city and those involved like Feed the Poor, I mean I keep repeating his name, that's Henry, but he's one that's out there and the churches, the seven Adventist community services group, the Catholic Church, the Salvation Army, they were all present in a ceremony where we provided them with the support, it's tremendous. It seems like for some people what is $50,000 when you look at if you consider that our indigent, it's about 1.8% of our population but these people are meeting critical needs of those who are on the fringe of the city or sitting around knowing that they will find a meal, it's helping us. At the moment they are applying, online and the application is thorough, would capture basic information and then when we close the period for application then we will be doing the assessment, you know. So if you want to, you can apply if you believe you qualify, you will apply, okay great, yes. Whether we can, young man with disabilities was badly beaten. I think the national organization for people with disabilities put out a statement. Speak to the importance of taking care of these people and more importantly not taking advantage of those people. Yes and I'm happy, that's a very, very important question that you've raised. The issue of gender-based violence, sometimes people tend to focus that it is really men and women and women being the victim. But I think we in a society now where we, when you look at gender-based violence we're talking about other vulnerable groups, the elderly, persons living with disability and that is something that we need to have a discussion on, continue to discuss it, raise it as an issue, I heard the news. And it's unfortunate, you know, and my sympathy goes out to him. But it's an entire society. You have the organization for persons living with disabilities and I know they're doing quite a bit of work. But our people, disabled people live in communities and they are family, they have friends. Until we can function as a community in the real sense of what a community is. The organization responsible for persons with disabilities or the government or the police will not be able to stop that sort of idea of hurting an individual who is vulnerable. Yesterday I had an opportunity to visit somebody, a young person who was living in chronic disability and shared a smile with the person and he's been cared by a family member. The person is at home all day and I have to give up livelihood by just providing care for this individual. Such is the case for some families. And again our support, our disability grant, the Prime Minister has made available funds where we have approximately 350 persons and an additional 100 on a waiting list receiving a support every month from this government. I think it's something that your voice, you know, you need to add your voice and support this initiative and when I ask, the Prime Minister has given more but I tend to ask a lot more to reach out to persons. This kind of advocacy is critical. These are not political agendas. These are humanitarian activities and it needs people who are concerned about ordinary people to add their voice to that kind of support. So I would love to hear the media, not just celebrating but asking us to do a little more, get more resources to do more of that. I have not received the report from the officers from SSDF but I'm aware of what's happening. The Cabinet has approved the establishment of, not a consortium, the wood consortium was changed but civil society and private sector coming together to lead this activity. We've just started work where that is concerned. We're expecting to roll out more in the new financial year, interventions where we are targeting and to bring all efforts, all persons who are concerned about crime and violence and want to contribute towards Zenrusha being a safer and a better place and to save the lives of our young people, especially our young men, to be part of this consortium working together. So the Cabinet has approved this two days ago and the work for this activity within the SSDF will roll out in a powerful way. You will be hearing and seeing a lot more of activities as it gets to this. Earlier, while we were speaking about the COVID-19 support, you spoke up to the challenge of people not being able to pay their bills. I know that last year you were involved in some sort of conversations with Lucelac and Flow. I know at the time you had welcomed the 20-dollar package, the home package, instituted by Flow. How are those conversations progressing with those companies and I guess what are your thoughts on the ministry and Flow working together to provide... Yes, the bundle is working well. A lot of the people who critically need it, they have been taken care of, but there are still more persons who we are discussing with Flow. For example, persons who are unable to pay their bills, not necessarily qualified, but we are revisiting the policy as it relates to those who access it. More than 50% of the 5,000, maybe 2,500 persons have access to Flow. So we have persons paying $20 monthly for a bundle meaning they have internet, they have television at their home. Some persons do not have the means of connectivity and remember I spoke with Flow with regards to having modems that are solar-driven. Again, because if you do not have electricity, you can't have internet. So that discussion, I'm having that discussion, it's ongoing with Flow. Also with Lusilek, the idea of having prepared electricity, as again, it's a conversation that I'm having, the technology exists and Lusilek has agreed to look at the possibility of rolling it out so persons can purchase electricity in quantity that they can manage in advance and be able to sit on their phone on some platform seeing that they have a balance of $5 so they could go into a supermarket and top it up before they get disconnected. This Lusilek has agreed to come in this direction. Of course, it's more a poor approach in consuming services like this and I hope that we can have the technology to bring basic services to our people providing options that they can consume one way or the other. Not everybody wants to have a meter and consume as they wish and then come up with a large bill at the end of the month that they cannot pay. But if persons like most domiciles, I find, they purchase electricity on their phone from the supermarket, they top up, and then they manage a lot better and you do not have the incidence of disconnecting electricity in domicile like we have here. So I'm happy that Lusilek is considering this. Again, all of this is in a way to try to create an environment for ordinary people to have access to services, respect their rights and make living on the island a lot easier. So that would be done. Also, we would be speaking to the cabinet with regards to looking at other annoyances as persons provide services to people and find ways to resolve it. One of the areas that, for example, persons live on family estate, they do not own, they live on family estate, they have been there all their life and they want to have connection but they ask them for legal land, people that they cannot come up with and that is affecting them get connected. We are just looking at this as an area of trying to resolve with the service providers and all the similar annoyances within the whole gambit of services we provide to people, how it disadvantage or it affects poor people or vulnerable people that they are not able to easily access and have the connection because of the issue of land and what have you. So we are looking at all of this in keeping with the support that we provide under the COVID support and under the resilience programme that we have with the World Bank as well. Yes, yesterday we welcomed the first cruise ship, the Venice Air, just over 4,000 passengers out of a total capacity of about 5,001 which probably says about 80% occupancy which is actually higher than what we were projecting based on our projections on the number of calls for the year we were expecting about 630,000 also it looks if that level of occupancy remains that will have closer to 700,000 arrivals for the year. We will have 18 inaugural calls which says quite a lot inaugural calls is the first time the ship is calling on St. Lucia and I think last year we had about 10 so it is going to increase this year and we have not yet even started implementing the agreement with GPH and we are going to really see our numbers rising so hopefully you will see better numbers over the coming years. Of course you recognise when you compare stayover visitors with cruise the cruise for one day stayover would stay average 7 days but the cruise passengers probably in a more direct way affects everyday life in St. Lucia the taxi drivers, the vendors the sights, the attraction the restaurants, the beaches where the beach boys make a living so the cruise has a significant impact on our economy in an almost direct way every single day thousands of people come to St. Lucia and spend money flows immediately another feature of this year's season will be the increasing number of ships that will come during the summer because last year again a lot of noise that they were not enough ships we tried to explain to them this was a comeback here from Covid some of the smaller ships that used to come no longer in operation but we were working on getting more ships during the summer the off season and I think we will be getting a ship at least every week during the off season so we are very excited about that we will continue to work to get even more ships to come and we've already started a lot of intense work to get more yachts to come because the yachts are also an attractive source of spending for persons when they come into the country so we are certainly looking forward to the cruise season but in modern the cruise season it's also the peak tourism season and some of the flights we were able to get back on track of course I had explained that the summer was going to be a bit challenging as Europe opened, as the fire is open and that we would have some challenges some of the airlines were saying they did not have the equipment nor did they have the crew for them to continue the level of service they had pre-Covid last year was an exceptional year Selenusia opened up very early and some regions still had not been opened up yet but we are continuing to work over the next few days the tourism authority myself will be attending Roots International where all the international carriers are present and having discussions with all the major airlines to see what more we can bring on board for Selenusia so the next few days will be really critical for us in terms of our negotiations and discussions Selenusia is in a position where we don't pay minimum revenue guarantees MRGs for flights to Selenusia we don't do so right now it's a practice that existed in the past where millions of dollars were paid which we don't do we do have joint marketing programs with some airlines but we don't pay MRGs and there are some people who are saying we should be paying millions of dollars to airlines to fly to Selenusia so we have not reached a point where we believe that's an imperative it must be done so our policy position remains the same for now MRs obviously you are expecting vendors, taxi drivers and other individuals in the tourism sector to benefit from cruise visits but from time to time we have vendors and even taxi drivers say otherwise they don't really benefit from this visit you are responsible and also can you tell me a bit about taxi drivers so taxi drivers that carry cruise passengers and they are not benefitting but if they are carrying passengers how they are not benefitting how does that make sense I mean because if you are carrying passengers around the island you are benefitting but let me tell you now that's an issue so listen to this yesterday we had a soft opening of the temporary area at the Monly Bay as you know the Monly Bay was compromised and it was an unsafe area and we had to take the decision to physically dismantle it because we could not have a situation where there might be a disaster if persons continue to go there and we developed this area and I invite you to take a look at it virtually in one month we really got it set up for the vendors and our plan is to start the construction of a new leh-bye and we have some very exciting plans for that new leh-bye in preparing for this temporary structure I had reason to say to the vendors that they really need to work on how it is you convert visitors coming in because you said the same thing to me minister they have visitors coming but you know we are not making money we are not benefiting enough and I had reason to say to them first thing you need to do I have stopped on this leh-bye many times and I hear your conversations I hear how you all speak to the visitors I hear the things you all see to each other in front of the visitors this is a professional enterprise if you want people to buy from you you have to be a sales person you have to use sales techniques to sell your product you have to charm people that's how people sell so we said to them look we are going to do some training and we did some training at the ministry for them and the ministry has been doing training for vendors around the island because we recognize that's a problem around the island so I was saying to them look we bring we make sure we go out with market we make sure we do business the final step has to be yours we have brought the visitors we have helped you get the items we have trained you you have to be able to make the sale we cannot make the sale and we cannot force the visitors to buy from you so we can understand you are saying it is a challenge but maybe it is a time for you to rethink your sales strategy and let's work together with the ministry for you to be able to better you know sell the products that you have but it has to be a clear understanding of your mind that you are a professional sales person visitors who come to the lay by or any part of the center is under no obligation to buy your items they are not so we will help you get the right facility and under the GPH agreement we will entirely redo the vendor's arcade to really make it a more attractive more conducive area we will train you if there are items you want to source we will help you source it but you too now need to take it across the line and we want the vendors to see themselves as professionals if it is just a pastime see mavan mavan it cannot be that it has to be a professional engagement the same way any sales person see yourself in the same way and that's the mindset we try to sell to them so there are people let me tell you there are some taxi drivers in San Lucia visitors sell you they are the best in the world the best in the world the way they speak to them the way they treat them the stories they tell them when they drive them they virtually say these are the only people I want to drive me when I come to San Lucia but they also have some drivers they have to step up too so I think we need to raise the standard of service delivery and not believe because you are a vendor it has to be a vikivai kind of thing you are professional this is your livelihood and therefore what's needed and the ministry is always available to work to improve on that to make sure that that dollar filters down oh it is excellent I must tell you last year was the first time we tried this we brought on travel agents who actually sell wedding packages we brought on some media and we brought on we had the local service providers they were different days with different focus but last year we tried an expo at Sander's grant and the space was already too small and this year we had it at Haber Club and even that space was already too small and when you see some of what our solutions presented I mean the travel agents they said they saw why Saint Lucia is the number one because not only the quality that's world class in terms of the infrastructure the setting that they call the understanding of what's needed for wedding but also too the people we have in Saint Lucia are really oriented towards deliver the world class product and a lot of travel agents said to me what they love about Saint Lucia is how the local service providers are always engaging in working with them, the partnerships and really creating what their clients want and they were very very impressed and they could not they never expected that quality that Saint Lucia they heard about it some of them had experienced it but to actually come and see the entire setup and I don't have enough view over there I suspect some people because they heard weddings and they didn't want to they didn't show up but I think next year we have to probably look for an even bigger venue because at the same time I got messages from some locals who said to me hey I didn't mind being there for example some I would have loved to see some videographers there and photographers there because these people want those services as well but it was really fantastic and we had a fashion show also showing off local design wedding dresses and what not so it will get even bigger this year was just the second year I'm very sure by the fifth year of hosting this it will become one of the roman summits to go to in the world that's how I believe impactfully it can become but of course we will grow year by year the labai can you explain us I have for myself and for other persons who have said why the labai was done so late can you give an explanation for some people we were not aware there was a redevelopment of the labai we were not aware we put up signs telling people not to go there we put up caution tips we put up all kinds of inhibitions or structures to prevent people from going there because we noticed that there was some instability in the last year also we redesigned it and we applied for funding from an external agency for us to build a new one and two weeks ago we got word that it has been approved so the funding has been approved for the new labai but here we've been for the last year since we decided that we had to condemn it we've been preparing for the transition we were still hoping that we could have done some remedial works on it and maybe keep it for another season but our hope is that we should start the new structure by January which will be in the middle of the cruise season if we want them to move in for the next cruise season which is October next year we have to start building by January so we had to make a decision that it doesn't make sense to keep them there until March when the season ends and then to start the new and miss next year so we finally took a decision basically one month forth when we made that decision to just know we need to break down, we need to start in January so over the next couple months we will be preparing all the tender documents, all the financing agreements and for us to hopefully get a contract and start by January and by September complete it the vendors are moving for October when the season starts October being the pure heritage month what I'll ask some of the ways that the government is working tactically take advantage of that that's a good one the last of my answer question like that I got myself in trouble with my friends in Dominica so I'll be very careful because I boasted of what we can do with cruel heritage month how big it can become and somebody took the clip over and Dominica and said but wait and put me in a lot of trouble with my friends but on a serious note a major component of how we sell Saint Lucia now is selling the people the culture, the heritage selling the vibe of Saint Lucia and Creole Heritage Month fits nicely into this traditionally October is one of the lowest periods on the tourism calendar so September, October it goes on and starts to come back up in November so it's a low period for us there are a lot of ideas floating around as to how we can enhance Creole Heritage Month as it had been in the past the heavy focus on Creole Heritage Month was on Juniquial and you'll notice we've started since last year to broaden the programming more and more so FRC would have Juniquial Heritage Day, Juniquial and a couple of other activities now we try to encourage a full month of activities and you'll notice each other host communities themselves have a full month of activities on the weekend you had the river Lime in the Valley you had the Lama Good Science by Falco you had the Cassava event so Bouto had the Andrea Creole so what we are doing now is building the product building the product when you build the product you can now sell the product so again next year probably will be in a better place where we can say look we have a full program of activities for the month so somebody can choose what part of the month they want to come to San Lucia the other way to use it is to get the hotels the accommodation sector to incorporate Juniquial for the month so the person says look I can go to San Lucia and really experience a culturally authentic activity so we are slowly building towards getting that kind of product where we can sell it as a critical part well an important part of our attractions also I know that well recently you guys want to be for cable car next year speak to the impact that you will have on tourism and if you can give any additional details on that well first of all Cricket is modern just for us in this part of the world economic activity and even well tourism as well Cricket is part of what defines us as a people and we've not been in too well I mean from my experiences in Cricket I tell you Cricket cannot revive in this region unless governments get more involved I'm not saying to take over it but provide more collateral support because the facilities the programs the boards cannot do it on their own and you need to have a factory producing cricketers and somebody has to help in making that happen so hosting Cricket World Cup is modern just economic activities also about contributing today resuscitation of you know West Indies Cricket and improving the facilities that can make Cricket get better so in June the Cricket World Cup will be hosted we are told at the end of this World Cup that's going on now they will release the the schedule of matches so Saint Lucia is hoping to get some of the premier matches now if we get what we want we believe it will drive tourism arrivals because of the team that we want if we do get that team it will be significant we believe we want of maybe two or three territories that can host say an England participation in the World Cup in terms of the numbers of people that follow and we have an ideal setup in Saint Lucia we have a template that works in terms of the facility where it's located in the north in the midst of all the hotels no hotel in the north is modern 10, 15 minutes from the ground the entertainment spot at Grosjele, Rodney Bay so it's ideally set up at Saint Lucia for us to have a successful hosting we've had Cricket World Cup 2007 and in 2010 we hosted semifinals we may not necessarily be interested in the semifinals now we're probably looking for different configuration but of course we'll wait to hear what has been proposed to us but we'll be ready to take some resources because the Bosejo for example Bosejo Cricket Ground they are in Summit Cricket Ground they outfill is 20 or the years old built in 2002 and we saw what happened during CPL it rained we could not get the field dry because the whole ground has to be dug up and redone and the technology for outfills have even improved since then so we need to upgraded the players for Villa needs upgrading there are a lot more provisions you need to have in your dressing rooms so there's some upgrading the practice facilities Grosjele has to be upgraded slightly if you're going to Mindofili Park has to be upgraded current is already been upgraded and current will be in tip top ship for the World Cup so you know pack and rides for example we need to sit down and redesign how we're going to do pack and rides we also need it for jazz and jazz is the month before Cricket World Cup so you know we need to at least we get a chance to try out some of the you know systems for jazz and very soon we'll be making some look out for those announcements I can't tell you who's the future but you mentioned all of those provisions there's also the outstanding issue of the I would imagine would need some sort of remedial work to facilitate the volume of traffic that's anticipated there'll be a team looking at that I don't know how much more can be done between now and June we'll have to be made so very soon we'll be moving into top gear in terms of you know the arrangement so we have jazz in May World Cup in June Carnival in July and you know this weekend we launch Carnival in Miami when we did it last year we were the only country and then I guess others saw how successful it was so we had a lot of competition this year of other countries wanting to launch Carnival so again we have to now thinking of what's the new way of doing it because constantly you have to change your game because everybody else is competing with you and so we did launch our global launch of Carnival was in Miami on Thursday last week and therefore in July we'll have Carnival in August we'll have Emancipation Month and of course October next year Creole Heritage Month and certainly it will continue to grow so we're going to have a very exciting year next year I'm going to ask you the hardest question no facts colleagues every now and again you'll get conversation and talk about the dependency on tourism no matter who is which government is involved but there's a dependency on tourism so perhaps there's a section of our society you probably don't understand or appreciate the contribution tourism it's basically the fuel why tourism is as important as it is to our economy and what is there any scenario where there's another sub-productive sector that equipped what tourism or replicate what tourism does for our economy well I think and the only industry we have in Senoucha that has a competitive advantage globally is tourism plain and simple only industry and simply because we offer a service and a product that the more industrialised countries cannot replicate as here they've not been able to invent a beach in Germany or in France like ours they've not been able to replicate the landscape we have they have their own we have our own they have not been able to replicate the kind of vibe we have the culture that we have they've not been able to do so tourism and they have their own tourism I'm not suggesting Paris is the most visited city in the world so they have their tourism but we have ours and ours you know is you know of a special nature when it comes to manufacturing to agriculture we cannot compete with them that's the reality the challenge we've had as a government as a party the Libyan party is that we want more Senoucha to benefit from tourism tourism so whenever we've been in government we've always tried to create a paradigm to create an understanding of tourism to make sure solutions can have greater benefit from the tourism industry and even now we keep saying we want more Senoucha to participate in the tourism industry and we want more Senoucha to own the tourism industry and like I've said to people when you look at the rivers the waterfalls the mountains the beaches the people the culture that belongs to the people of Senoucha so the assets we have that's driving a billion dollar industry we should own more of it we should as a people we should own more of it we should participate more in it we should get greater benefit from it so directly now to your question you know people say tourism is so thicker so you know different industries are acceptable or what not the fact is all industries are like that COVID taught us that when COVID hit manufacturing had serious supply chain issues that up to this day some of them are still not resolved yet agriculture we had a tropical storm couple months ago almost 70% of the banana industry wiped out no green figs in the country for nine months isn't that a you know a fecal industry But tourism was the one that bounced back the fastest. And tourism started traveling and the economy revived. If this economy had been dependent on manufacturing, we would not be as well off as we are now. It would not be, because we still have supply chain issues. I mean, the fact of the matter is you need agriculture because you need to feed your people first and foremost, and you need to supply the tourism industry. Otherwise, all the needs of the tourism industry are imported, which causes economic problems for you, balance of payments and whatever else. So we need to be able to produce in manufacturing. We need to produce the jams, the soups, the pepper sauce, you know, the chocolates and the sea moss. We need to put those agro processing activities need to be accelerated in the country so it can feed the tourism industry. The tourism industry is the largest consumer of goods and services in the country. So you have an outlet. Of course, we still have to export. There's similar, well, agriculture as well. I mean, the hotels need tomatoes, they need cucumbers, they need peppers, they need all those things. Either we import it or we produce more of it locally. The tourism industry creates that market. It's creating a market for manufacturing and agriculture. So the more the tourism grows and the more they buy from farmers, fishermen, the more they buy from the agro processors, is the more you see we become more dependent on tourism if you think about it. But your success in one way, which is creating more avenues for our local producers, is actually increasing our dependence. It grows these other industries, but those industries decide to depend more on it. But just think about during the banana days, when we had a storm hurricane and it wipes out the banana crop for nine months you're suffering and then you have to start all over again. So I hear a lot about tourism and whether we should not move to another industry, any industry you move to, you'll have challenges. But for the tourism, what's important for us is that we want more solutions to own the tourism industry. Invest, that's why we launch a community tourism program. That's why government will make some announcement in terms of how we provide greater support to solutions wanting to start off the small business. We want more solutions to own this. This is ours. Why do we have the mindset that tourism must be about just hotels and who owns a hotel, have to control it? But this is ours. This is our beauty. And we have to change the mindset of solutions and tell them there are opportunities there. And as a government, we'll help you to exploit those opportunities and create a sustainable livelihood. Yeah, so much. You celebrate, I think if you feel a little lighter, one issue has been, one particular issue, no more. Which one is that? Customs. Oh, well, I mean, let me tell you. You never really, you know, you know, are you shy a little bit or you just let a lot of process go in front of you? That is... Let me tell you, my thinking on it is that it will never end with the opposition. It will never end. No, no, seriously. I've reached that point where I'm super focused on delivering in my constituency and making my ministries work. That doesn't mean I cannot fight. I mean, I have fought five years again and I know how to fight. And when the right time comes, I will fight. But now I'm very focused on what I am doing because if you just check the history of this thing, it started off saying a vehicle disappeared in the UK and I stole it. Then they said that obviously that was not true. It was proven not true. They said, oh, you brought it and you didn't pay your taxes on it. And when it was revealed that I'm a returning diplomat, I don't have to pay taxes. Yes, the vat has to be paid but they asked to pay the vat for enough as on my behalf. They were stopped from doing it. Then now the later opposition said, okay, it was easy, paid for it. But he gave it back as a gift, which is stupidity really. And then they said, okay, you didn't give an invoice with your name. But so many people buy things overseas for other people and send it on to you. And it's the invoice at Bronze Mat or the invoice at Best Buy is not on your name. But we explained to you why it's not on my name. Oh, arrest him and seize a vehicle. Everybody knew what they were doing. It was a calculated attempt to come after me to discredit me, calculated. And then now we ended up going through the court process. The court asked us to go mediation. They changed two controllers to try to get to arrest me. They said they would not do it. They got one who volunteered and said he can get it done. And he did it. Held my head up high, did what I had to do, knowing how it would end up. And then the court ruled that there's no basis for this. They challenged it and they said, look, they want to appeal. They went to the courts and the court said there's no basis to appeal against that. And then they start back again with a different version now. Now what am I gonna do? You know, they will keep changing it and changing it and changing it because the objective is very clear. And you saw this thing that's been circulated like ability report whatnot is very clear. They go after UNSLA and make him appear to be X, Y, and Z. They said, oh, I had a joint account. And like I have said, I've never had a joint account in my life. And I said, no, never had a joint account. I've had as a public official to be a signatory or non-official government account. When I was permanent secretary, when I was chairman of CIP and when I was high commissioner in my official capacity, every document related can be shown. And I'm reading a report that is submitted by the leader of position saying they could get no documentation. But nobody even asked me if I have documentation. Do you have copies of, if you investigate an account that you said the high commissioner was responsible for and you said you went to the high commission and there were no documents. There was an accountant who was running the financial affairs. Was he asked for documents? Was he contacted? And if you did not get, could you not have reached out and say, you know, we're trying to get information on this account. Is there any information you can share with us? I will give you all the emails, everything I have. Nobody did. But a report is producing, they could not get the documentation. I mean, it's ridiculous. But the point is it will not stop. It will continue, continue, continue because that's the game plan. Now what do I do? I can either decide, let's start fighting. You want to fight, let's start back fighting. Or the time will come when we will have that political contest and we will see what happens. But I think though, in having said that, some people might get stepped over the line and we really have to put a stop to them because you cannot just allow people to say anything about you anytime, any day. There's one thing to be involved in a political contest and people are questioning your decisions on tourism, on juniquial, on jazz, on whether we should host Cricket World Cup and we can respond and one can analyze whether this has impact, whether this is necessary. But when people just say those things about you and those things go global and they know it goes global. And if you don't say anything and people are reading every day, you let it's a teeth, you let it's a this, you let it's a that, you let it's do that. And let me tell you, just start hearing things. There'll be a lot more to hear. So the time will come and I think that time is going to come very soon. I will see what happens. Okay, good morning everybody. Designation, the press secretary would have dealt with that already, but just for purposes of rhythm, I'd like to let you know that I'm Sean Edward, Minister of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training. And of course I'm also the duly elected parliamentary representative for the constituency of Denry North, second deputy political leader of the Senutia Liberal Party, chairman of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, SIDIMA. Good morning. I think it's opportune to inform you that I was out of country for approximately two weeks, where I attended three high level meetings. The first one was held in Grenada and there I accompanied Prime Minister Pierre to the second Caribbean small islands developing state high level dialogue on climate change. And as I said, that was held in Grenada. It was a very productive meeting. We had no fewer than seven Prime Ministers in attendance. And coming out of this meeting was a position by the CARICOM, at least those who attended, that ahead of COP28, which would be held in Dubai, COP being the conference of the parties for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or what people call UNFCCC. Coming out of this meeting, we were able to have a harmonized position and the point was made repeatedly that instead of going to COP and presenting messages that are at variance with each other from a CARICOM perspective, it is important that we synchronize our messages to accentuate the challenges and difficulties we have dealing with climate change. Climate change is perhaps the single most challenging matter that small island developing states like Saint Lucia have to deal with at the moment. And we have seen climate change impact almost every facet of society, almost every sector of national development. When the hurricanes come, and of course we've been told by the IPCC, which is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it's really a scientific body that does all the monitoring of the climate and the different atmospheric conditions to arrive at a conclusion to tell us where we are at as it relates to climate change. And they are saying that the conditions have worsened and resulting from that would be more powerful hurricanes, more severe droughts, and the weather becomes a lot more difficult to predict. And all of those are impacting us, as I said, in very adverse ways. When a hurricane comes in a matter of two hours, it can decimate your agricultural sector. It can destroy infrastructure and it can render your country from being a thriving one to one where you have zero GDP in the space of two or three hours. I have referenced a weather system which visited Saint Lucia just a little over a year ago when we saw a trough which remained stationary over Corinth and the northern half of Saint Lucia for just about two hours. And in its wake, we saw cars floating in the streets. We saw appliances exiting homes through windows and doors and a lot of damage was inflicted on infrastructure and property. That is a real impact of climate change. And the point has been made that as small island development states, we live on the frontline of climate change. A farmer in the Mabuia Valley or in Soufre can have a nice little two acre, three acre plot on which he cultivates his vegetables and he's able to raise sufficient from that to put books and other materials in his child's school bag. With one weather system, that entire crop can be washed away and can render him in a position where he cannot provide for himself and his family. So this is what the whole climate change discourse is about. So we're moving into COP, as I said, with a harmonized position as Caribbean and we have to continue to push for some of the monies that have been pledged and promised by the developed world, where at a previous COP, over $100 billion was pledged. That is monies that was supposed to have been made accessible by accessible to developing countries, but to date we noticed that that money has not been forthcoming. And when we are impacted by weather systems, we are left with no choice but to borrow and every one of the Caribbean countries and Lushan, not an exception, we continue to borrow and sometimes we have to borrow on the brink of credential limits just to ensure that we deal with the adaptation issues that we must undertake in the face of climate change. So that meeting was held in Grenada, as I said. It was the second Caribbean small island developing states, high level dialogue on climate change. The first one was in the Bahamas last year and so Grenada saw the need to ensure that there was continuity where that is concerned. And this one was extremely critical because it comes on the eve of COP 28, which will be held in Dubai. One of the main expectations we have for COP 28 in Dubai is how will the loss and damage fund, which was agreed to in Shamil, Egypt at the last COP, how is that fund going to be operationalized? How will it be capitalized? And how will monies be channeled to small island developing states through the loss and damage fund? So next week, the minister's responsible for climate change of the curriculum we will be having yet another meeting, again to galvanize our position and to ensure that at least the messages are synchronized and there is coherence in what the Caribbean puts out in Dubai at COP 28. If I should just go straight to the other meetings that I attended, I also traveled to the Bahamas the last two weeks. For the first meeting I was representing Prime Minister Pierre for Climate Finance in the Americas meeting. And again, it is just the region, the Caribbean and Latin American countries looking for ways to access monies at very cheap rates to deal with some of the issues that we must attend to as it relates to climate change. That meeting was chaired by the Bahamian Prime Minister and the person of PM Philip Davis. And the meeting was held over two days, Sunday the first and Monday the second. And I think it was a very, very good meeting. A lot of the financial institutions that operate within what we call the LAC, that is the Latin America and Caribbean space, made presentations where they basically will offer in packages at concessionary rates that countries within the region can borrow to deal with climate change. Notwithstanding that all the different institutions gave a very good account of themselves. From a San Lucia standpoint, I did raise the issue that yes, banks operate to make a profit. And that banks are looking to lower the interest rates for the loans that they provide. But I wanted to hear more as it relates to grand funding because let's face it, we practically have to borrow for a lot of the things that we have to undertake in country. A lot of the services we have to provide to our people across sectors. Sometimes you don't have the capacity to raise the money almost immediately and so we have to borrow. I can tell you that we have done an excellent job in servicing our debt as a country and we have a very astute minister of finance in the person of prime minister Pierre who's always on top of the financial situation, situations that confront the country. So yes, we have the capacity to borrow but it cannot be a situation where we will continue to borrow over an extended period of time that will seriously debilitate the government and it will put us in a position where we will not be able to deliver on services to our people as we are mandated as an administration. So I did raise the issue of grand funding and the Caribbean, St. Lucia in particular, we have to go out there in the international financial space and find where the grand monies are. There are a lot of organizations that are willing to work with us but I must tell you that sometimes the whole financial architecture that exists can be a bit bureaucratic in getting you to actually apply and receive grand fundings. So at that meeting in the Bahamas as I said, the banks were able to provide a lot of information in terms of what was available or what is available. However, notwithstanding that they are making monies available at concessionary rates to us, I believe that there is need for us as ministers, as policy makers to push a more robust discussion as it relates to grand funding. So we had CAF was represented and CAF is the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean. I think they have some very attractive packages that they presented at the meeting. Our own Caribbean Development Bank was represented and I think the president, Hygienus Gene Leon, who was a solution native, he gave a pretty good account on behalf of the CDB in terms of what the CDB is working with member states of the Caribbean to access resources to deal with the whole issue of climate change, whether it's from an adaptation standpoint or mitigation standpoint. And we had the World Bank in attendance as well. And there were a few other agencies that deal with climate financing, although they're not banks, but they too had a presence and I speak of the adaptation fund. I speak of the GCF, the Green Climate Fund. All of them were represented and as I said the discussion was a very fruitful one. So it's up to member states to decide if we're going down that road where we continue to borrow, albeit at concessionary rates or whether as a region we begin to push a more robust discussion in relation to grand funding. I believe this is the way to go. We are not responsible for climate change. We know what causes climate change. Climate change is really an offspring of industrialization where you burn fossil fuels and you engage in activities that let off gases in the atmosphere that would cause the temperature of the globe to rise. And with that comes a situation where a lot of small island states are paying for it, whether it's by way of sea level rise, whether it's by way of more potent atmospheric phenomena or whether it's through droughts and we have to live with that. We are not the emitters, we are not the culprits, but we are the ones suffering the consequences. So when developed countries come and they pledge monies, I think it is very unconscionable for them not to put the mechanisms in place to ensure that the monies being pledged trickled down to the small island developing states that on a daily basis have to live with the consequences of the actions of people who are in positions where they're locked in in life is a lot better than what we can speak to as far as our own circumstances are concerned. Question, yeah, first of all, does anyone have a question directly on that? No, no, no. Okay, in the aftermath of teachers' appreciation, I know that as a former educator yourself, you will know that that job can be a very stressful one. Is there anything that the government's position is to help not just financially the teachers, but also their mental well-being in that life? Yes, well, you referred to me as a former educator. Once an educator, always an educator. I'm a true-in-teacher. I have a lot of classroom experience and I would have had a very short stint helping out with administration at a particular school, although I was not formally appointed. But today, as the Minister for Education, you would well appreciate that I very much immersed in the business of education without the classroom level. I don't know there's any Minister of Education who has done more school visits than I have, so I know what it's like to actually be in that classroom space. And I can tell you, in the aftermath of COVID, and we have had a lot of psychosocial problems at schools, and what we've attempted to do is not just provide support to the students alone, but ancillary staff, principals, and teachers have received psychosocial support from the Ministry of Education. But as to whether what we have done or we're doing is sufficient, I will be the first to tell you, you know, there's a lot more we can do. So the intention has always been to work very collaboratively with all the stakeholder agencies. In this case, the Central Teachers Union and the principals association to see how best we can make that working environment conducive for teachers. If teachers are not comfortable, you will not have the kind of impact in the classroom that you want on students. So it has to be a nexus between the comfort levels of teachers and the comfort levels of students. And that is the only way you can have an education system that produces what you want. We can stay in the Ministry of Education on the waterfront, in our air-conditioned offices and plan all we want. We can have the best policies, but if those policies cannot get expression within the classroom space, we basically spin in top in mud. So I appreciate and I understand the need to give teachers all the support they need. And as you quite rightly said, not just financial support, but psychosocial support, teachers have to constantly be trained. They must be retooling because we live in a very dynamic society and the teacher training that you would have provided 20, 30 years ago, I'm certain cannot hold into this environment. And teachers who are technically, who have an appreciation for technology, we have teachers who better understand the dynamics of society. And as society evolves and you have more challenges, you have to train teachers to ensure that they are able to put up and meet the daily challenges as they arise. But that having been said, I'm extremely pleased with the efforts that we get from our teachers and myself, a trained teacher, I've made the point that the real expression of gratitude and appreciation for the work of a teacher can never be measured in terms of dollars and cents. So, but it's important that the salaries are in the bank on time, but we have to go beyond that to say thanks to the hundreds of teachers who leave home on a daily basis to mold and ship tomorrow's leaders. I thought just one question, that same thing of education. There have been, well, I guess, allegations of gang violence making its way into the school institutions of Ireland. Is there anything that is being done to curtail this level of violence or gang activity in schools and the... Yes, it has to be a multi-prong approach. It can't just be looking at gangs and gang violence. In isolation of what obtains in the wider community. At almost every interview where I've had to speak on the issue of school discipline, I've made the point and I continue to make the point that the behaviors in the wider society will invariably infiltrate the school system. I believe in the power of example. And if we in society as adults, we exhibited behavior traits, children as onlookers will look to replicate precisely what they see coming from adults. So yes, we have had incidents where some students have come into the school, onto the school compound exhibiting behaviors that are not in keeping or in conformity with school rules and behaviors that are not even in conformity with the laws of society. We have had to call the police in on a few occasions to help remedy some situations for very obvious reasons. I'm not going to mention some of the schools and some of the incidents we've had to deal with, of late, but one thing I can assure is that the Ministry of Education will never, under my ministerial watch, hoist a wide flag of submission and say that this is beyond us. Once the children come to school, we try to meet them on their level and to try and see how best we can encourage them to desist from some of the behaviors that will not augur well for their development for the reputation of the schools they attend and force them to show as a country. But yes, they are challenges. Yes, we have had security breaches. Yes, we've had situations where children have openly been defined to teachers and the principals. Those persons who tell you that the best way to deal with that is to suspend them or expel them. But when you suspend and you expel them, where do you send them to? Are you making the situation better for the country? Are you helping that child? We are all about behavior modification and reformation of character. And if it means that we have to go the extra mile to try and get children to change, we are prepared to do so. But by the same token, children must understand that there are rules that govern the school space. And if you're not going to conform with the rules, there are consequences to behavior. I've said to students when I meet them that if they violate the school rules, then they are sent to the principal's office. And that is where they are admonished. When you live at the end of form five and you violate the laws of society, there's no principle to reprimand you. You have to deal with the consequences of your action by interfacing with the police, the magistrate. And eventually you either get incarcerated or you find some money for your actions. That is not what we want. School must be more than just teachers imparting content for the various subject areas. So it makes absolutely no sense as a society that we can have 200 or 300, 400 distinctions in mathematics every year. And the same children who can register those impressive grades on national and regional exams lack basic skills to coexist with their peers in society. What is the point of you having 10 ones and you cannot resolve basic conflicts with your peers that you have to reach out for a knife or a gun? If it is an education system that only puts out people who are well-trained academically and in commensurate fashion, you don't have the attitudes and the values to go with the impressive qualifications you've registered. Our system is failing somewhere. And as minister I can tell you that the one thing that I've been pushing is for there to be that simultaneous effort where we teach the content, but at the same time we will try to instill values that will make our students productive citizens who can coexist with their peers. You said it's a multi-pronged approach. On what agencies are you guys working with to help with your maturing? Yes, we're working very closely with the Royal Central Police Force. We are working with the Principals Association. We are working with a number of community-based organizations in some of the districts. One of the things that I'll be speaking to in the coming weeks is the formation of this umbrella body where a lot of the retired educators we have in Central today, they will be asked to come in and assist us at the community level, in particular to see how they can mentor students, mentor teachers and so on because there's a very rich repository of talent, of experience out there. And yes, people have retired but there's so much more that they can contribute. And it is my intention as minister to ensure that we formally engage them and to bring them to help with some of the situations that we have, not just to deal with indiscipline, but to also see how we can complement some of the good things that we have already been, that we are already doing in the school system. What's your comment? CPEA, you would have seen over the last two years of the second best month. Um, comparing to common entrance, has the CPEA lived up to the advantages which have been talked about this is what we have on the common entrance in terms of the stress that is put on the students. Also the work load for teachers and students. The competitions between schools, principals. What have you assessed from reports on what has happened from the teachers, from the students, have people complain? In my books, there's no comparison between the common entrance exam as we knew it and the CPEA. That's chalk and cheese and I would go for CPEA any day of the week. The whole common entrance exam, as we knew it, a child wakes up on the morning, you get dressed and you are placed in an examination center. And it doesn't matter what the situation was at home last night. It doesn't matter to anybody where they had breakfast that particular morning. You go into the exam and you delete that paper. Just a one-shot exam. And as I said, it doesn't matter if there would have been external factors that impacted your mood or influenced your disposition for the day. You had to take on that exam. And we would have seen several examples where the scores reflected were not adequate reflections of students' abilities. With the CPEA, there's the internal component and there's the external component. So as the child goes through the primary school system, the child, for want of a better expression, accumulates max, meaning that you have a form of assessment that is continuous, okay? I believe that is a much better reflection of a child's ability than just the one-shot exam. Teachers have expressed concerns in terms of the workload for the internal component of the CPEA. As I've said before, we do not operate as a command center in the Ministry of Education where the assessment unit just decides that this is what we're gonna do. There has been dialogue. There will continue to be dialogue. And if it means that we have to reform certain aspects of the CPEA, we are prepared to do so. But we have to be convinced at the level of the Ministry of Education that whatever changes have been recommended and keeping with best practice, sit well with the original examination body, which is the CXC. But at the end of the day, what we want ultimately is for students, teachers and parents and the assessment unit to be happy. There are some schools that go through the process with very little complaint and they are able to register very impressive scores. And there are also some schools where you get the feedback that the workload is too burdensome, et cetera. But you must not look at schools in isolation. But you must also factor in the fact that the dynamic that some schools that come from certain geographic pockets have certain advantages. That's a fact. So the best way to deal with that, as I said, is for there to be ongoing dialogue between the assessment unit of the Ministry of Education and the other stakeholders. But to answer your question, I would opt for the CPE and its current form any day before the common entrance exam as we knew it. Yes, I think, yes, I have a very radical position on assessment of students. I think it's a little too much. School is supposed to be enjoyed by students. And I think our system, just by its very nature, places too much stress on the children. But until such time, we can find an alternative and we can find a form of assessment that would be more in keeping in modern day smaller land societies. I think we have to continue to soldier on with what we have. But I too recognize that in certain parts of the world, of course, you can compare, given the amount of resources they have and the structures that they deploy as far as their own education system is concerned, that children are not even subjected to assessment as we know it in our part. So yes, I agree with you that it is something that we have to revisit and I'm just hoping that all the exams that we subject our children to, we can probably find an alternative to those and to see how we can nurture tomorrow's leaders in ways that are more in keeping with modern day society. I know your ministry, I think it was this year, that was the launching of the mandatory program. How is that program, how are you guys working to have that program, working tandem with the Taiwanese scholarship program? Because in many of these instances, when the recipients get the scholarship, they actually have to spend a year learning the language in Taiwan. So how are you guys working to maybe marry that program with the scholarship program? And what do you say to the critics who might, who have criticized the ministry for piloting Mandarin before? Well, let me say that the objective of the Mandarin program, it's a pilot program at the St. Joseph's Convent and the St. Mary's College. And I must tell you that I was in the audience when the children give a demonstration of the aptitude in Mandarin. And for a moment, if I had closed my eyes, I would have thought that I was somewhere in Taipei. I mean, they were very fluent and they've demonstrated good grasp and command of that language. You see, we live in a society today where you can't prepare young people to exist only in Zanusha. So the prime minister himself is on the record as stating that he wants the average child in Zanusha to be able to speak three languages. By the time he or she graduates through our school system. So the Mandarin was a pilot. It was completely funded by the Taiwanese embassy. But as I said, it is not a prerequisite for one to qualify for a Taiwanese scholarship. But if you apply for a Taiwanese scholarship when you'd have been exposed to the rudiments of Mandarin at an early age, it gives you an advantage. China is one of the biggest countries in the world, not in terms of the demographics, the population, but trade and things of that sort. And the Chinese are everywhere in the world and they speak Mandarin. So if our students are able to speak Mandarin, I think it gives them a bit of an advantage. But the piloting of the Taiwan is the Mandarin, sorry, it's beheaded by the Taiwanese embassy. It's not in any way whatsoever, making it mandatory for our students to learn Mandarin as a prerequisite to gain scholarships in Taiwan. For Kuiol, yes, a lot of work has been done to teach Kuiol in our schools. We will be starting very shortly with quite a few schools. And I must tell you that the ministry is on the tremendous amount of pressure to introduce formal Kuiol speaking classes in the schools because in today's generation, even in rural San Lucia where you speak to, in rural San Lucia where you speak to the average five and seven-year-old and he or she is not able to respond in Kuiol. And I must also tell you that in some of the schools in the urban areas, the parents have been clamoring for the introduction of Kuiol in those schools. So through our modern languages curriculum officer, at Kamdu, I know they had a very advanced stage in finalizing the curriculum that will speak to the teaching of Kuiol in our schools. We will not do it across the board at once, we will obviously pilot it in a few schools. And as I said, it is in keeping with the thinking of our administration where our children have to be multilingual. And again, I have to say that we are not preparing them only for life in San Lucia, but life beyond the shores of our country. Very much. Gentlemen and ladies, good morning. Good morning. As you know, we visited Venezuela last week, Friday, for a one-day visit. A company was a senior minister and a minister for infrastructure. And the means of external affairs. Before we tell you what transpired, I don't know whether you have any questions that you want to ask me before we do that. Well, on that topic, or separate? Separate. Separate, obviously. Big announcement coming out of the weekend was the inclusion of the sanitary napkin in the selfishness part of the price control items. I don't know. From the 24th of October, we decided that the cabinet decided that some types of sanitary gear will be on the price control, basically to ensure that there is fairness and then the government and the benefits of removal of that is felt by the public generally. Because we actually removed the vat from these items. Also, building materials. That doesn't seem to be making the news that vat was actually removed on these items and the cost of these items have reduced. And that hasn't seem to be making the news, but we want to remind the citizens that the vat on building materials was removed, actually removed, taken out. So building materials would cost 12.5% cheaper than any time building materials are imported, regardless of the cost, the price will be 12.5% cheaper. And I can tell you that has created some level of increased activity. And from what I'm hearing, the Christmas season, in terms of people doing renovations to their homes, there is going to be the effect of the removal of vat on building materials. It's going to be felt. I've been told so. The science are there and people are very excited about the removal of vat on building materials. Hence the same removal of vat on these, on some levels, some types of sanitary equipment. The vat, but to ensure, since these items are very important, we've put them on the price control. We haven't done so for building materials, but we put them on the price control. And let me also tell you again that there is no health and security levy on food. There is no health and security levy on any goods that were vatable. Once there was no vat, there is no health and security levy on it. Once vat was zero reason, there is no health and security levy on it. There is no health and security levy on charcoal, unless it's imported. I want to know how many of you import walking sticks? If you can tell me, the amount of people who import walking sticks, I'll be very, very happy. Please, I'm putting out a question. How many people import walking sticks to the country? So if you can tell me, how many people import walking sticks, I'm going to be very, very, I'll remove it. If you tell me that walking sticks is an essential, is an essential thing that causes the cost of living to increase, walking sticks. Tell me, I'll remove the health and security levy. I'm setting an open challenge to members of the press to inform the minister of finance how many walking sticks are imported in St. Lucia every month, every year. And if that creates such a problem for the country, I will remove the health and security on walking sticks. Please, I'm asking you to drop for me. Fear of charge, I hope you take, because you are the ones who have been making, who have been talking about walking sticks. So I want to ask the question. Okay. Over the weekend, Israel has declared war on Palestine. Already, you've already seen the prices of all ports on the international market, so. You know, this has been a concern, you know, for us, I mean, what have happened with the Ukraine, Russian war and whatnot. I know the government has been subsidizing a few other products. I mean, your thoughts on this, and I wonder what this could mean for our country, moving forward, and also to a message to our people in terms of what they could look forward to with this new war. Well, if you could, my leaders, you and address, well, I made the call that there ought to be some level of understanding as a situation in that part of the world. We do not know how far that war will escalate. It's early days still. But the price of oil on the world market has already begun to show signs of increasing. The last week, we were subsidizing cooking gas in excess of $20. So we are keeping our fingers crossed as, you know, we have absolutely no control over the price of oil on the world market. But we hope the war in Ukraine is raging along. Now we have that instability in the Middle East, in the Middle East, in the East. So we are keeping our fingers crossed. We can't make any predictions, but we're hoping that a situation doesn't escalate and other parties do not join and create unnecessary problems. Because we are the ones who are going to suffer in the finalizes. The small islands always suffer. So you've taken the Walking Six assignment? Yes, yes. I want you to take the Walking Six assignment. I want you to go to the customs and find out how many Walking Six you import. How much charcoal you import and how come that causes such a... So why not my assignment? Why isn't that my assignment? Why anybody else's assignment? No, no, everybody's open. The assignment is open. Anybody could take the assignment. I'm just fooling it out, because I just want to find out what the impact of Walking Six the impact it has on the economy. I don't want to create anything, but still talk about fuel and petroleum and whatnot. Venezuela is a producer. Is there anything... Venezuela is like... Yes, we'll hear from us. Anyhow, Venezuela. On Friday, the Minister of Exile Affairs and the Senior Minister and I were on a trip to Venezuela. This is nothing new. Saint Lucia has had diplomatic relations in Venezuela from 1979. In fact, the first state visit was done by Sir John Compton when he was then Prime Minister. In 1979, he visited Venezuela. Saint Lucia has continued to maintain these relations with Venezuela from that time. Venezuela has been an ally to Saint Lucia. And we did... There was a small break in relations between Saint Lucia and Venezuela for a short period between in the years 20, 20, Minister, the break between Venezuela... 2020. 2020, when there was a break in the former administration, when the ambassador, when Venezuela... There was an ambassador to Venezuela, and the former administration refused to accept her credentials which caused a lot of shame in the international world. An ambassador in Saint Lucia and the government refuses to accept her credentials that is on hold of and the Ministers of of itself will tell you what mark that did on the country. So we reestablished these relations and the ambassador was accepted. The credentials of the ambassador were accepted and from that time we reestablished and we have been working with Venezuela to establish, to confirm and to strengthen these relations. We... It was a very successful visit. There are some direct benefits that are going to accrue almost immediately. We have a phone call, a Zoom meeting at 1.40 today with officials in Venezuela to discuss how Saint Lucia can get fertilizer for its farmers can get housing and we will expand by my colleagues. Housing assistance, fertilizer for farmers. The fertilizer should be here by next month for the farmers of the country. We dealt with infrastructure for material for road construction. So there were some tangible benefits. We signed a services agreement and we are expecting some results very, very soon. In fact, I think the fertilizer should be here by the end of November if not solar. It's nothing new. We reiterated our position that I think the sanctions against Venezuela should be removed. That is nothing new. We've said so in the UN last year. We said so in the UN this year and it's our position that Saint Lucia has a right to be friends with wherever we want. We are friends with Taiwan. We are the only two countries in the we are one of the three countries in the OECS that have relationship with Taiwan. So we have the right. So when I say we have the right to have friends with Taiwan, I mean it. So we are friends with Taiwan. So it's nothing new. So we are very proud of our relationship with Venezuela and we will continue to make the call that the sanctions be removed. It was a call that I made publicly in the UN last year and this year. We think the functions are unjust and I think the people of Venezuela should be allowed to plot their own affairs like the people of Taiwan and again that's the point we've made all the time that we do not interfere in the internal affairs of any country. You don't interfere in the internal affairs of Taiwan. You don't interfere in the internal affairs of Venezuela. So it is nothing new but we are very happy you went and my colleagues will give you some more information. Good morning everyone. It's not very often that I am cloved with that important trust of addressing you. But this morning I want to join Prime Minister in sharing our own discussions of our last visit to Venezuela. I think as Prime Minister indicated he led our very first bilateral meeting to Venezuela. It was a very productive meeting. Very useful discourse. We met with the Foreign Minister of Venezuela, the Minister for Transport, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Agriculture as well as the Minister for Public Policy apart from the Vice President of the Republic as well as President Maduro himself. I think we agreed to cooperate on a multiplicity of levels including agriculture, education in the area of energy and improve the connectivity between our two countries. And we proceeded in an MOU to cooperate in those very clear and practical areas that will impact positively on our country. We also signed a clear roadmap to how we can actually deal with the Air Services Agreement that will facilitate the Venezuelan carrier to operate in our jurisdiction. It will create an improved framework for both tourism trade between Venezuela and St. Lucia. As a matter of fact many years ago we had rent avion taking speculators from St. Lucia across to Margarita and back. So this is nothing new. I think we are going to start a new engagement for trade and cooperating on a fundamentally different level. So our visit really and truly was to ensure that we create an improved framework for our country to match our basic need with greater possibilities. So undoubtedly it was a one-day meeting that covered a lot of ground and like Prime Minister said fertilizer for our farmers that's quite important. Coming out of the COVID-19 period and still recovering obviously during that period people would have been really anxious and restless. A number of people lost their jobs during that time. A number of farmers did not have the financial resources to actually purchase a lot of fertilizer for us to recover. We found an economy in a mess. It plunged into a major recession prior to COVID and compounded during COVID a contraction of 24.4%. But when Honorable Philip J. Pierre came into office we could not have ignored the fact that the conflicts that were rooted in unemployment, poverty and of course crime had been exacerbated by the COVID-19 situation and so we are in a hurry to return this country to normalcy to rebuild the economy of the country to deliver greater services to the people of the country our trip to Venezuela is part of that effort to ensure that we return that economy to normalcy with lightning rapidity. What I just have you here separate from the Venezuela visit last month was a very active month for you at the UN General Assembly. We signed a few diplomatic relations I think there was also a visa agreement signed in Indonesia so if you could just expand on those things that occurred everybody passed that month. Certainly in keeping again with our efforts at creating that improved framework for us to match our basic need with greater possibilities we are trying to engage with non-traditional countries we shall continue to strengthen our relations with our traditional friends like the US Canada and the UK and of course we are not weakening our relations we are not turning away from the old as the late president JFK said but we are turning toward the new because our people are demanding more attention but we are small open and vulnerable economy and there are only so much that we can do so we are aligning ourselves with persons who are going to assist us in developing the country and Africa is an area that we must engage with Asia and so you would see activity in that regard trying to to cure the deficit in terms of the number of countries that we do not currently have bilateral relations with so again we are reaching into new areas all in an effort to give the people of this country the best possible results in terms of our government managing a very very vulnerable economy at this juncture in time you know the thing about establishing relations there is a long gestation period before it actually gives both to results but only recently the ministry of finance went to Barbados in that bank the Africans are endeavoring to offer us a facility where we can tap into resources for the development of our respective jurisdiction so I would say this is one of the benefits however you know when you establish diplomatic relations especially new countries you must build that relationship you must be aligned on a multiplicity of levels you must ensure that your strategic priorities are not in conflict with theirs because you need to co-operate on the basis of mutual trust and respect and this is why we are building those relations on the basis of what would impact positively on the people of our country but bear in mind there is that long gestation period before it actually gives both to that type of result trust must be built then you know engagements that are necessary we must pursue those avenues via patient endeavor that is what we almost always do must be very patient, strategic you must use the right tactics to ensure that you succeed in that mission yes? Thank you very much and good morning to all of you for the opportunity given to address you today following the state visit to Venezuela under the guidance leadership of our Prime Minister the Honourable Philip J. Pierre I must in a nutshell indicate that it was a very intense day of positive discussions between the Venezuelan officials and we're able to discuss a spectrum of initiatives and also address matters of concern to St. Lucia you've heard from the Prime Minister and you've heard from the Minister for External Affairs from my end as Minister responsible for infrastructure ports transport, physical development and urban renewal my focus mainly was on infrastructure and so an appeal was made to the Venezuelan authorities who received it positively and agreed to collaborate with us to see how they can assist us in our road infrastructure in that regard we have made an appeal for consideration of bitumen bitumen is an element used in the production of asphalt and they have gone even further not only to commit themselves to the provision of bitumen for the production of asphalt but also to provide if necessary granular material for that purpose which would mean that if we're able to receive this benefit from the Venezuelans then it means road construction will see some level of depreciation in terms of cost the cost of road construction will be decreased in addition it means that even the private sector will benefit a number of the private contractors who engage in road construction will also be able to benefit by the provision of the bitumen to Saint Lucia another area which was also discussed is the area of energy and energy as you're aware of since Saint Lucia for the past years we have been pursuing the initiative of energy and we're on the verge now of considering what we call the national energy policy and to renew that policy updated in preparation for what is on the landscape what is most visible on the landscape is that of the electricity supply act which will enhance the environment for participation not only by one power producing company but several independent power producing companies be it in the solar in wind geothermal or ocean tech or any other form of energy that they can participate in the production of electricity for domestic and commercial use and at the same time to be able to participate in the distribution through the sale and buyback of electricity on the main grid which is owned by Lucia so we are at a point where we can work with the Venezuelans in terms of fuel in terms of fuel products, oil products, bitumen which will assist us in our road infrastructure and at the same time assist us on the issue of energy we also made a pitch for housing and the government is very concerned about housing, the cost of housing be it rental or purchase and our initiative was really intended to see how best we can get from Venezuelan assistance in identifying low-cost housing particularly social housing for Saint Lucia, they have been able to come up with a product for hurricane housing that they believe will assist us many years ago we were able to get assistance from Venezuela in greener housing on this occasion they've got a product which emanates from oil and it is non-flammable hurricane resistant it is one that we believe will work and today as the PM indicated we are having our first meeting and that shows the interest that Venezuela is showing on 30 we will have a technical meeting with the Venezuelan officials to try and streamline and tie in those initiatives for the good of Saint Lucia Thank you very much There is a consistent strike going on on the coast any anything from me in the back the workers are on strike there is some dispute between the employer and employees on that project there seem to be an issue of cash flow what I can tell you is that the last request made by the contractor for payment the government has fulfilled its responsibility and our responsibility is based on the certification of the contractor on the job that is consultant, contractor on the job and whereas there were some issues relating to that that has been settled out and the contractor should have received his money last week so I believe that this would have resolved whatever issues that may be hovering in the air Thank you very much