 Hello and welcome to Celebrating Excellence. For the last 30 years, St Lucia has celebrated its two Nobel laureates, Sir William Arthur Lewis and Sir Derek Alton Walcott. The theme for the festival in 2023 is Celebrating Excellence, nurturing our creativity, consolidating our legacy. Dr Clarence Henry is a development economist and regional integration specialist. He tells us about Sir Arthur Lewis' impact on the field of economics. So one of the first things that we have to appreciate about Sir William Arthur Lewis, Sir Lucia Nobel laureate, is that he was one of the first development economists. Sir Arthur Lewis would have written during the 1950s and 60s and of course throughout the years as well, beyond that, but during the time when he wrote there was something specific happening. You had the emergence of several countries that were coming out of the colonial era and in looking at those countries' development status and in trying to determine the path for development for these countries, it was very quickly realized that these countries could not be seen to be similar to developed countries, in fact the countries that were once their mother country, so to speak. They were not industrialized, they did not have the sort of natural resource endowment, they had high levels of poverty and employment, their savings rate was not significant when you compare that to the realities of developed countries. Sir Arthur Lewis began making a contribution on what are the development problematic, but more so the prerequisites for development in those new countries, new independent countries, those countries that were once considered to be food world countries and to be typically referred to as developing countries. Arthur Lewis' prescription for economic development really still relevant today as such prescription would have been relevant 70 years ago. Why do I say that? I am saying this because fundamentally to address our problems of low growth, low per capita income growth and the broader development issues that we face with, you still need to address the channels for which economies grow, which means that you need to still appreciate what are the fundamental challenges that this is an economy, prevents growth, slows down development. Again it is along the lines of whether you have the resources to do so, the extent to which you have diversified your economy, the extent to which there is a degree of industrialization of the economic base, because if you start talking about the economies that are doing well, one of the common characteristics is that they are very much diversified and have solid industrial base. These were Arthur Lewis prescriptions, so they still relevant today. What it means for us to move in forward, because Caribbean economies cannot continue growing at two percent or less. Caribbean economies cannot continue to exist with high levels of unemployment, especially among the youth, where youth unemployment is twice the average of the national rate of unemployment. Caribbean economies cannot continue to be un-competitive in the global market, and so one of the prescriptions that I think we need to go back to very strongly is that of the advancement of regional integration. Regional integration provides that basis for addressing the smallness of our economies. It provides the basis for addressing the lack of resources we have. It provides the basis for industrialization because of the fact that it creates not just the sharing of resources, but the larger market space for exporting those newly produced goods. Arthur Lewis was a promoter of regional integration, on the basis that he really believed the Westindies Federation, which was established in 1958, and came to a abrupt end really in 1962, would have helped, you know, catapult, if you like, the region's economic development. When I feel he thought, well, you know, why not the small colonies, the little it that he made reference to, the OECS countries and Barbados, why don't they come together and become a regional grouping to create that prospect for a benefit from a larger market size and more pooling of resources. Arthur Lewis was correct about that. And I think that fact remains to be, despite the fact that of course you have had the COVID challenge, despite the fact that we still have much to do in implementing regional integration initiatives, that doesn't change the reality that you still need to go back to regional integration. Sir Arthur Lewis ultimately remains the, you know, one of the most accomplished development economies in the world, and, you know, we have to move to, from the standpoint of just talking and celebrating Sir Arthur Lewis, and actually implementing what he has prescribed for us to move forward. I think Sir Arthur Lewis would be very happy, you know, I guess you can be happy in depth, but I'm sure if there was possibility he would be happy to see his prescriptions being implemented in a very thorough manner. Thank you to our sponsors, the Government of St. Lucia, the Bank of St. Lucia, Labry Cooperative Credit Union, Flow and DD Media Relations. Share our Facebook page at Nobel Laureate Festival St. Lucia with your family and friends on Island and abroad. I'm Delia DeLore, goodbye.