 Coming to you from our GIS Studios, I am Anicia Antoine and this is your Midday News Brief. The Ministry of Commerce, International Trade, Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs has launched the 5th annual St. Lucia Business Month. The initiative being held under the theme, All In, Our Journey, Our Future, propelling growth through entrepreneurship, aims to foster and promote an enhanced entrepreneurial culture in St. Lucia. Nias Alfred, President of the National Youth Council, encouraged young people to think beyond the traditional business mentality as St. Lucia moves towards creating an entrepreneurship ecosystem that is all-encompassing. The Minister of Commerce, Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs, Honourable Bradley Felix, noted that the Business Month objectives align with the theme for this year's independence to engage the public and private sectors to join efforts to grow St. Lucia's economy, one business at a time. The activities for St. Lucia Business Month will be delivered in partnership with key public and private sector agencies and will include a series of targeted events in the form of panel discussions, workshops, symposiums, consultations and business to business networking sessions. St. Lucia's Business Month celebrations commenced on Friday, November 1st and will culminate on Saturday, November 31st, 2019. The Caribbean Secondary Schools Drama Festival, which is being hosted from November 3rd to the 9th in St. Lucia, presents a great opportunity for those involved in the art form to hone their craft. This year, St. Lucia and drama students joined their counterparts from Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua and Pabuda for an intensive week of training workshops and performances. The actors involved are delighted to be a part of such an event. The Caribbean Secondary Schools Drama Festival is being hosted at the National Cultural Centre. Amendments to the Value-Added Tax Act, amendments of schedules 1 and 3, at the last sitting of Senate was met with unanimous support. Amendments under item 1 to include a definition for the words educational supplies and to include the supply of printing of educational supplies as a zero-rated supply of service were supported by the majority, Scheduled 3, to exempt imports of personal items, food, clothing, toys and other household commodities contained in barrels, sparked some debate. The sitting of Senate was held on Thursday, October 31st, 2019. This has been your Midday News Brief. Thank you for watching.