 Welcome to the NTN Nightly. I'm Nisha Charles. This edition stops stories. The role of public servants in transforming the public service is underscored at a highly successful retreat. Investing in Lucia is rolling out strategies aimed at improving the Ireland's investment fortunes. The Eastern Caribbean digital currency soon to be in play. All that was the latest in youth development, sports and the NTN The role of public servants in ensuring professionalism and effective service delivery in their day-to-day duties was highlighted during the recently held staff retreat for staff of the Department of the Public Service. More in this report from Jelita Pizza. The retreat is important as it enables us to pull back from the day-to-day work and spend some time thinking about the bigger picture. The permanent secretary was at a time addressing staff of the Department of the Public Service at a staff retreat held at the Royalton on Friday, October 4th 2019. The retreat was a mix of fun and the presentations of critical messages such as the importance of professionalism and efficiency in the delivery of services. Staff were called upon to reflect on their presence modus operandi and together charted a way towards the renewed thrust and vision for the public service in general. Your role in this process is critical and over the next few weeks your managers will engage you and at the end of the process your contribution to the bigger picture will be part of the submission of each unit. Rest assured that your managers will be held accountable. I want to remember this is our journey our future we must be all in. So we need your participation we need you to actively participate in the exercises your managers will engage you in. Guest speaker at Friday's retreat Geraldine Lendor Gabriel challenged the staff to embrace the concept of branding and to carry the brand with distinction. I am hoping that beginning today those of us who have never thought of what our personal brand is will not only understand what it is but we will begin to carve a way to ensure that we have an effective brand. It is a process of marketing people and their careers as brands you'll understand that so when you come out of the public service you are carrying a public service brand you'll understand that good whether you like it or not this is what you're carrying and I know that this can become the greatest brand in this country but we need to believe it and we need to work towards it so your marketing your careers on your brand it is an ongoing process of developing and maintaining a reputation and impression of an individual group or organization you'll hear that good an ongoing process so even if those in the past had done a job which we are not happy with or we are happy with what will determine our brand is not the past but how we move forward. The department of the public service is currently undergoing a comprehensive review of a strategic plan which will guide the work program for the next three years. This year's retreat was held under the theme service delivery on your reality. Julia Peter reporting from the department of the public service communications unit. Investing Lucia is ruling out several strategies aimed at improving the island's investment fortunes following its rebranding. Tunel Norville has the details of the refined approach. Foreign direct investment contributes significantly to St Lucia's revenue. Minister for commerce industry investment enterprise development and consumer affairs Honourable Bradley Felix elaborated on this at the rebranding ceremony of investing Lucia. Honourable Felix indicated that over 1.5 billion US dollars in foreign direct investment has been committed to come to St Lucia over the next two years. At the forefront of the generation of foreign direct investment is the official investment promotion agency investing Lucia ISL. The repositioning of ISL coupled with transformational projects will set the island as a leading investment location in the Caribbean over the next five to ten years. ISL's chairman of the board of directors Pinkley Francis highlighted the entity's strategic focus using a five prong approach. Even as an IPA we successfully enacted the methodologies and operational changes for all five of those prongs. We are just one national agency in its mosaic. Like all our partner agencies we depend on our ministerial stakeholders for governance guidance and posting legislation and given the final approval. This is why there must always be an overarching vision. A national development policy that tackles at a macro level our national development goals and give not just investment Lucia but all of our national agencies the ability to do more than facilitate but focus and proactively solve problems. The overarching vision and mandate must be transcend any regime change. It must be patriotic and non-partisan. The chairman explained that the new direction taken by ISL is guided by one simple question. What kind of St Lucia do you want to see in the years to come? He explained that all St Lucians play a part and have a say in the kind of country they want to live in and should take that responsibility very seriously. We will become the Singapore of this hemisphere in terms of efficiently run public services, infrastructure, clean, safe and smart cities. We will become the Romania of the Caribbean in terms of having 95% of our citizenry owning land and property and having economic security for generations to come. And speaking about owning land, one of the strategic initiative of investing Lucia is to ensure that every St Lucia has the opportunity to own a piece of land. ISL is expected to roll out a number of initiatives geared towards engaging nationals and creating opportunities for employment, ownership and investment locally. The official launch of investing Lucia's rebranding was held on Monday 30th September 2019. For the Government Information Service, I am General Novel. The Electoral Department has taken an invaluable step towards innovation in St Lucia's electoral process. Anise Antoine explains. In commemoration of International Democracy Day, the Electoral Department is hosting an exhibition to showcase the work of the organisation throughout St Lucia's 40 years of independence. The exhibition highlights the stages of modernisation, including the process of registration, the voting process as well as election results from 1979 to 2016. To mark the occasion, a Lymphia Lionel Assistant Chief Elections Officer noted that amnesty is being granted to persons who have lost their national identification cards. We're trying our best to give back to St Lucia's because we have persons coming here on a daily basis that are complaining with their ID cards, are stolen, persons took their back, they don't know where they put their ID card so we've decided to do an amnesty for two weeks and this two weeks amnesty starts from the second of October and ends on the 15th of October so you have persons coming here to replace their card and what they need to come into electoral get a statutory declaration form. That form has to be filled out by a justice of the peace or not you public. They have to put a five dollar stamp on that form which they purchase from a post office to pass what size photo and they have to work with their birth certificate. Lionel noted that one of the objectives of the exhibition is to sensitise the public on the difference between the NIC number and the registration number. The number here which is highlighted right here on the left-hand corner of the card is your NIC number or your national ID card number. To the back of the card you have your registration number. The electoral department has also launched a mobile app to simplify processes for the electorates including information on the change of name and address processes. Kenya James is the network administrator within the electoral department. The key thing is our votes to search. Voters can make you so that you will get your name as to where you vote and are you registered as well. On there you'll also get information about, like I said, all our exercises come in the sizes as well. We also have an interesting feature here that countdown to elections. Well that will be after the prime minister has made the announcement and it also links the exhibition commenced on the 2nd of October and will end on the 15th of October 2019. From the government information service I am Anisia Antoine reporting. The digital currency pilot project within the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, ECCU, is inching closer to becoming a reality. The DXCD CARIB project as it is called was launched in March of 2019 and seeks to reduce cash usage within the ECCU by 50 percent, promote greater financial sector stability and expedite growth and development of member countries. Eight months into the pilot project, governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank Timothy Antoine says the project is gaining interest even outside of the region. The ultimate goal he says is to include as many people as possible in the financial system. I'm shocking that that may sound. There are many people in this region who do not have bank accounts. That may surprise you. And by the way, let's we wonder why it's so difficult for them. It is not so easy to open and maintain a bank account. Bankers are not visioning for you because truly it's not your fault. You're responding to imperatives along the AM and CFU front. Bottom line is that they are more people than you would think. I've seen a number but I will not quote it at this moment who do not have bank accounts. Part of this challenge is to broaden financial inclusion. You cannot be an active participant in the economy and fully benefit if you're not included in the financial system. The project will be executed in two phases development and testing for about 12 months followed by rollouts and implementation in four pilot countries for six months. The project is entering its user interface and testing phase. The digital currency will be used through the DXED Carb App. How do you actually use this DC dollar? Simply you have to go into the App Store, download the app, the DXED Carb App. You will then be connected with partners, financial institutions, mobile wallet providers. You scan to make the payments. The payment is recorded and then your account gets deported, the vendor gets credited and you get a confirmation at the end. Pilot countries include St. Lucia, Grenada, St. Kitsa Nevis and Antigua. In St. Lucia, partner institutions include Bank of St. Lucia Limited, CIBC First Caribbean International Bank, Monopo Credit Union Limited, and Surgical Finance Inc. Project implementation is anticipated for March-April 2020. And this is the NTN Nightly, Ryan O'Brien is up next. When the authority of the heads of government of the OECS and its other ministerial councils meet and adopt policies for the organization, they rely on the OECS commission to transform these into action. The OECS commission is the secretariat of the organization, a grouping of officials headed by a director general, mandated to implement the decisions of the governments but also empowered to make recommendations on the strategic directions of the organization. The OECS commission organizes needs, prepares budgets, conducts research, undertakes projects, negotiates for and represents the OECS member states. It is organized along several components. There are the commissioners from each member state who along with the director general form the commission that oversees the work programs. There are also technical divisions with specialized units between them, as well as diplomatic missions in Brussels and Geneva. All these complement each other to make the OECS commission the engine of regional integration in the Eastern Caribbean. The OECS has a proud past and together we are working towards a brighter future for all our citizens. For more information visit www.oecs.org Welcome back. We join Ryan O'Brien for the latest happenings in youth development and sports. Thanks Nisha. Welcome everyone to your segment from the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports on the NTN Nightly News. I'm Ryan O'Brien. Assistant Youth Officer in the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports Shirley Ann Cyril-Meyers has started a music and arts program among an initial four schools on the island. Meyers told NTN Nightly how this initiative came about. Welcome to my position at the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports in June of this year. We have implemented music on the arts programs within the primary and secondary schools and we have identified four schools, two primary to secondary schools and Boccage being the first school of interest. Meyers also reflected on the first activity held at the Boccage secondary school. Choirs and vocal training and Boccage is here today with an enrichment program doing music education, doing character building with resource persons that is coming to do their presentations, etiquette and we have quite a few activities planned for today's program. This initiative is a collaboration among various ministries including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Creative Industries and Spearheaded by the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports. As the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports enhances its youth worker program, a number of the island's youth workers have presented their quarterly reports. Jameson Rene Youth Worker in Choiselle spoke to NTN Nightly news about programs conducted in his community. The camps I helped to facilitate and also with a group I'm working with Atlas will also be the panel discussion which went more around sexuality, bullying, gender roles and yes. Rene was confident the programs were beneficial for those involved. It's really amazing to see what people can do and what they're doing right now to try to improve on the youth building the youth in St. Louis, I'm pretty confident. Youth Worker based in Choiselle, Jameson Rene. And before we leave you some results and in the schools under 15 netball, Thursday, St. Joseph's Convent defeated Leonès Comprehensive 42-19, Wednesday, the Ira Simmons Secondary 1 over Cicero 23-11, also on Wednesday, Archipel secondary got the better of Barbano secondary 25-8 and on Tuesday, St. Joseph's Convent also chopped up victory 25-1 against Cicero. And that's your update from Youth Development and Sports for today. I'm Ryan O'Brien. Thanks Ryan. The Department of Home Affairs and National Security is calling on the citizenry to equip themselves with knowledge of human trafficking. There is an ongoing campaign which has resulted in growing awareness on this issue and there is a hotline based at the police control room of the Royal St. Lucia Police Force. By simply calling 847 or TIP at any time, the public can report cases of suspected human trafficking. The call by the department follows news from Port of Spain that a sting operation by the Special Operations Response Team had uncovered what can only be described as modern day slavery. Trinidad and Tobago officers on Wednesday rescued 69 people, four of them women, who were being held captive in cages at a church along the eastern main road, Aruca, Trinidad and Tobago. The men and women all Trinidad and Tobago nationals ranged in ages 20 to 60 years. The church they were imprisoned at is a rehabilitation center. The Department of Home Affairs is urging all St. Lucia's to utilize the information tools that the Trafficking in person secretariat has developed for the purposes of building awareness. The St Lucia website on human trafficking is anti-traffickingslu.org and stave us the NTA nightly. Up next, Primers Hutchinson is here with the NTA Nouvelle-Arcueille. Welcome back. We join Primers Hutchinson for the NTA Nouvelle-Arcueille. The government's information agency GIS has signed a national television program for the NTA, for the Nouvelle-Arcueille, and for Primers Hutchinson. The Ministry of Health has made three steps to continue to act in order to address the problems of trafficking in the country and establish a protection assistance, which is generally the case in the country. Minister of Construction, Ivo Daniel, explicated the march Minister Jacques Agapouin to address the strikes of the poor to his countrymen. The young people started fighting around the Bs and the Minister of the Kaisol also addressed the better system to control the traffic. Mr Daniel declared that he needed to correct the situation of the poor to the poor. Giants ou Néa ou FASI, c'est Marco Planque qui a existé présentement. Il y a aussi plan pour établir ce système liémané très tôt. Il y a un leuré who, pour un casque-touille, leuré Jeremy et grand chemin John Compton. C'est vraiment un bay à y asser à Stackie. Il y a déjà un consultat, puis une compagnie c'est un Trinidad. Excellent, merci Daniel. Je supposé que vous fassiez aussi le mon survey à Van Nuell dans les salaries. Sikode Daniel declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Plan is to try to save millions of citizens in the best way to protect their country. Sikode Daniel declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Sikode also declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Sikode also declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. The government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. The government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Sikode also declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Sikode also declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Sikode also declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Sikode also declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Sikode also declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. The ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. The ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Sikode also declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. The ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. The ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Sikode also declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Sikode also declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Sikode also declares that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Sikode also declares that the government has to follow the United Nations to ensure that the ministry establishes the best way to protect its country. Messierfield Primus and here's a look at what's happening to us weather-wise. Cloudy at times with widely scattered showers and possible thunderstorms over the southern portion of the Lesser Antilles. Elsewhere, fair to partly cloudy skies with a few showers. The inter-tropical convergent zone is expected to remain active over the southern portion of the Lesser Antilles. Two tropical waves located over the eastern and far eastern tropical Atlantic are moving westward, near 15 and 12 miles per hour, or 24 and 19 kilometers per hour respectively. The tide for Castries Harbor was high at 206 p.m. and will be low again at 737 p.m. The tide for Vierfort Bay was high at 313 p.m. and will be low again at 904 p.m. The seas moderate to locally rough with waves and north-easterly swells 5 to 7 feet or 1.5 to 2.1 meters. Small craft operators and sea bathers are advised to exercise caution due to rough seas. The sun will rise Friday at 5.54 a.m. And that brings us to the end of the NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7 p.m. with a repeat at 7 a.m. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I'm Nisha Charles.