 Good evening, fellow St. Lucians, at home and abroad. Happy New Year to you all. I pray that 2020 will bring you good health, peace, happiness, and prosperity. I thank you all for the spirit of giving and love which flowed throughout our island in December. It was a joy for my family and I to share in the festivities, especially my constituency of Miku South. St. Lucia, 2019 was a year of continuing on our journey to bring empowerment to all people and to build a new St. Lucia. Recall that on assuming office in 2016 and on other occasions thereafter, I indicated that our government would need about three years before we'd really start seeing tangible results. Our task was not easy. In fact, what we found was rather daunting. Unemployment was at an alarming high of 25%. Our country had gone through five years of zero or negative growth. We were facing crippling levels of debt and there was severe deterioration in our physical infrastructure, social services, particularly in health, education, and in community services. Most of our institutions, economic and social sectors, were either in disarray or dysfunctional, from the police to the judiciary, from our culture to education. Many projects that should have been completed by the former government, such as the two hospitals, the desilting of the John Compton Dam, all critical projects had either not started or were far from complete. In short, the fiscal and economic situation was dire and there was a general sense of hopelessness all over this country. This is the backdrop against which my party was elected. Immediately, our team of workers rolled up our sleeves and got down to the business of turning this situation around. There is a little question that the visible improvements in the economy and the new direction has restored our country's hope and confidence. Our policies are working and we are moving in the right direction. One of our first actions was to fulfill our general election promise to ease the burdens on the entire population. We immediately implemented the five to stay alive. We reduced the 15% VAT. We put a freeze on property taxes. We introduced an amnesty on hospital bills. We reduced the vehicle license cost. We doubled the allocations for school feeding and transportation programs. Other measures included doubling the budgetary allocation for our culture, addressing deficiencies in the security and justice system, starting the phased transition to the OKEU hospital. We've spent millions on improving the infrastructure in almost every constituency, creating economic benefits and employment, and things such as roads, community centers, sports facilities, primary health care services. We've improved the water supply systems in the north and the south. Today, three and a half years in our administration, Saint Lucia can see and feel the positive signs that we are moving in the right direction. The most recent IMF assessment on Saint Lucia described our growth prospects in the near term as favorable. I'm projected that the commencement of our eminent for infrastructural projects will substantially boost growth in 2020 to 2022 period. Unemployment, which was at 25% when we came in, has been reduced to 17% according to the most recent reports from the statistics department. And we anticipate a further reduction this year. The undisputed fact is that our economy has recorded growth in every single year since we took office. I make this point to emphasize the fact that history shows that Saint Lucia always prospers under United Workers Party administration. We have a track record laid down by our founding father, Sir John Compton, of consistently developing this country. When I addressed you at the start of 2019, I spoke to the implementation of a number of our government's plans. Several of our signature projects are underway, especially in the southern part of the island. We're excited about the airport redevelopment project. Our first FBO private jet facility is now operational and the rebuilding of St. Jude's Hospital continues at a rapid pace. The Pearl of the Caribbean project had quite an auspicious start on National Day with our island's first international horse racing event, which attracted media, investors and visitors from all over the world. And has created an unprecedented buzz about Saint Lucia, regionally and internationally. The public showed their overwhelming support for the project by coming out in spectacular fashion for this day at the races. Attendance was in excess of 7,500. Many had flown in from New York, Toronto, London and all over the Caribbean region to participate in the rebirth of the South. The next race is scheduled for mid-February just in time for our 41st Independence Anniversary. Does anyone remember the 1970s, when View Fort was humming with industrial and manufacturing activity? It started with an event on May 1, 1970 that was billed as D-Day. D for development when the Honor International Airport was commissioned. Halston Day's hotel was opened, as was Windward Island packaging company, Winnero. United Workers Party's plan back then was to make View Fort the industrial capital of Saint Lucia, creating an industrial estate that attracted a host of manufacturers. Apart from Winnero, Winward and Leeward Brewery came, along with some unforgettable names like Milton Bradley, Karaman, Manumatics, Marston Mills. For nearly two decades, View Fort was booming, providing jobs for people not only from the town, but from Labry, Souffreir, Choiselle and Miku. Many businesses in Castry's open branches in View Fort. Regrettably, under the Labour Party, much of what was achieved during that time has been lost. Today, Salvation is coming to the South. Added to the Pearl of the Caribbean project, we have the airport, the cruise ship terminal, the redevelopment of Anstassab and the Canales project, the Free Zone at Heonoro, that was underperforming when we came into office, is now 100% filled and more importantly, we have a waiting list. We've also invested significant resources in Souffreir, another town where there had been widespread neglect. We opened the Humminbird Beach Park, upgraded and redesigned the Souffreir town square, redeveloped the old Trafford playing field and converted it into a farmer's market and a bus terminal, upgraded the Sulphur Springs Park and began work on two new sporting facilities. Roads are being attended to, new hospitals being built and Souffreir has become the poster child for village tourism. Similar programs are being implemented in Ansleray and in Groslet and eventually rolled out island-wide. To the North, we're making changes in Castry's, which includes the Market Redevelopment Project. The old structure had for years been the target of criticism and ridicule, mainly because it failed to offer proper shelter and conveniences to vendors and to the general public. The newly built market is hurricane resistant and enables the free flow of goods and people. The goal here is to make the Castry's Market one of the best, if not the best attraction for locals and visitors, a permanent home for authentic local arts and crafts, as well as agro-processing products. Our vendors must proudly sell what is ours or, as some people may say, c'est à nous. We have on previous occasions shared with you our plans and vision for uplifting the entire city where more green spaces and less congestion, some of which will unfold during this year. Our tourism sector has been growing steady during the past year and we are truly defining brand solution. Many hotels reported record occupancies, especially during otherwise slow periods. A contributing factor being our summer festivals, which also benefited car rental companies, taxi drivers, tour operators, and other local service providers throughout the summer. I'm so proud that the tourism minister, Dominic Fady, was voted Caribbean Tourism Minister of the Year and Saint Lucia recaptured the award for World's Leading Honeymoon Destination at the prestigious World Travel Awards. We've also regained our position as the leading tourism destination in the OECS. Our cruise tourism arrivals have hit record numbers and stemming from the MOU we signed with Royal Caribbean and Carnival cruise lines, we expect a visiting team to look at the proposed projects to improve the quality of port castries and new cruise home port in Viewfort. Meanwhile, we're substantially increasing our hotel room stock. Following the negotiations and the securing of several approvals, the physical hotel projects are set to start. Among them, the Hyatt Project in Shock, a Dreams and Secrets Hotel in Canals, and the highly anticipated Cabot Saint Lucia, a game-changing project for the Caribbean golf industry. Our discussions with international carers have borne fruit and we've experienced an increase in airlift into the island, resulting in over 400,000 stayover arrivals for the first time. We were thrilled in December to welcome our new American Airlines flight from Chicago and indications are that we are headed for another excellent year for this industry. As we continue to grow as a country, we're addressing our road infrastructure with an island-wide road rehabilitation program, the upgrading of feeder roads, the rehabilitation of the West Coast Highway and building on East Coast Highway to more easily connect the North to the South and thereby address the traffic congestion in the Grozallet Highway. The financing of these projects is being provided by the Taiwanese and the CDB and other development agencies with the loans supported by the fuel and airport tax. Some of you have already seen the results with which the work in Casemba Road in Grozallet, the Forest Air Road, the Tiemont Road in Union, the Salterbus Road in Choiselle, the Bel Air Road in Castry Southeast. Work is eminent for the road in Denry Village, Blascia, Spring Roads in Miku South and the New Development Roads in Souffaire, just to name a few. The Ministry of Infrastructure Rehabilitation Program will cost EC 110 million, the Millennium Highway and West Coast Road 130 million, the Kuldusak Bridge 30 million, the Shock Bridge 22 million and the feeder roads 50 million, nearly $350 million in total, making this the largest such investment in St. Lucia's history. It is no secret that there was a mass exodus of farmers from the agriculture sector during the reign of the Labour Party. Our farmers are too important to let this trend continue and thankfully with the support and incentives we are seeing a turnaround. In 2016, banana production increased despite the challenges from natural disasters. We're actively working on new markets and discussions remain underway with Winfresh to strengthen the company's operations and expand its export base. Under our food import substitution program, the Ministry of Agriculture is working closely with farmers to decrease on the food import bill by increasing our output of seven crops, cabbage, lettuce, watermelon, cantaloupe, bell pepper, pineapple and tomato. The intention is to be fully self-sufficient in those crops. We're also putting greater emphasis on the regional markets and exploring expansion with export St. Lucia to improve our agro-processing sector and two agro-processing plants are now in operation at Ager in Miquoux and Fossault in Babineau. Young people, now is the time to explore the opportunities in this sector, especially when it comes to the production of cocoa, honey and livestock. Addressing the needs of our education system has been multifaceted. We simultaneously have been tackling aging infrastructure, outdated curriculums and the lack of innovation. To date, we've already spent 25 million to address deteriorating school infrastructure, which is in sharp contrast to the five million spent by the Labor Party in five years. We've finally put doors on some classrooms where they never existed. Repair the leaking roofs, fixed hazardous electrical and plumbing problems which had been festering for decades. The list goes on, but we will get it done as we've allocated another 10 million for school repairs in 2020, 2021. This month, we begin construction work on three primary schools under the Education Quality Improvement Program, ACWIP. These schools are like Gaer combined, Gordon Walcott Memorial Methodist and the Vibhuté Primary. In modernizing and innovating our schools, we've already started teaching, computer encoding and robotics. Our next exciting venture is the introduction of eBooks as a pilot project for Form 3s. Unlike with the previous administration, the new program will be supported by downloadable lessons, infographics and internet links. This will significantly reduce the cost of books for parents. We wish to say a special thanks to the Republic of China, Taiwan for their commitment towards ICT and the education over the next three-year period. We're grateful to our diplomatic partners who continue and in some cases have increased scholarships for solutions to study abroad. These opportunities are even more accessible if we as solutions become multilingual. We're excited about the appointments of a new principal at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, Dr. Keith Nurse, who is recognized as one of the experts on creative and orange economy. And we're looking forward to diversifying the programs offered at Sir Arthur Lewis College, which will include converting Radio St. Lucia into a recording studio to enhance St. Lucia's expertise in the field of broadcasting and music production. One of our biggest success stories has been in the manufacturing sector. The last three and a half years, we've targeted this sector for employment and investment generation. Caribbean quality meets limited. A poultry processing plant is soon to begin operations in Denver. Invest St. Lucia has also partnered with Jamaica Company, ITEL BPO Smart Solutions, in developing a 20,000 square foot factory shell set to be operational by April at the UNORA Free Zone, which will create even more employment in the South. A US $30 million expansion is currently underway at St. Lucia Distillers Limited. Similar expansion works are planned at the Wynward and Leeward Brewery. Attention is also being paid to the restoration of the coconut factory in Supra. Invest St. Lucia has also been facilitating home ownership for all solutions. Two residential developments, one in Abouajouli in Denver and the other in Boshan, Miku, are currently underway at prices that are accessible to working middle income solutions, especially the youth. Our government also has major housing projects airmarked for Leclery, Rock Hall, Talvern, Bel Air, Angers, La Rousseau, Rivadoury and Canaries. We continue to be inspired by the success of Ojo Labs, the only artificial intelligence real estate company globally, which began operations in Vuefort 2017 and now provides meaningful employment for hundreds of young people. These and more projects are designed to encourage entrepreneurship, ownership, create jobs and more importantly, generate revenue. We've not come to you with empty slogans, like jobs, jobs, jobs and better days, rather we believe that once the hard work is done and the foundations laid, the jobs and the other benefits will follow. The evidence speaks for itself and we still have 18 months to work. St. Lucia, we know that the healthcare is an issue that impacts every single home and family. I reiterate our commitment to ensuring affordable quality healthcare for all. You can expect the full commissioning of the Owen King Hospital as the majority of the faulty equipment has been fixed or is being replaced and we've set a deadline for us to move in by the first half of this year. As I mentioned, work is also proceeding at the St. Jude's Hospital site. Many of you now know are fully aware of the major structural and safety issues which exist in the hodgepodge of structures built by the former administration. Our government is committed to getting it right. We're currently constructing a 90 bed facility that will cater for both inpatient and outpatient services. We will soon be able to put behind us the sad memories that have lingered since 2009 when the original structure was destroyed by fire. I want to thank the management and staff of St. Jude for their hard work and more importantly, patients and staying in the course with their excellent service during those very trying years. Though the Denver polyclinic had to be redesigned because of inadequacies in the original plan, we anticipate work will start soon on the redesigned facility. We've increased the operating hours of the Grozellet polyclinic to improve the services offered to residents in the North. Also on the way is the construction of healthcare centers in Anceleray and Miku, the contract for which was signed on Tuesday this week. Of course, the biggest deficiency in our healthcare system is that tens and thousands of solutions are unable to afford healthcare. The Labor Party talked about universal healthcare but had no plan on how to pay for it. Now in partnership with the World Bank we're strengthening St. Lucia's public healthcare system by improving accessibility, efficiency and responsiveness of key health services. In this year's budget, I shall expand on our plans for a national health insurance program. We aim to ensure that all solutions have insurance and government will cover the vulnerable, elderly and unemployed. In addition, 33 primary healthcare centers will be equipped to serve as the first point of detection for infectious diseases as well as emergencies. In partnership with the Pan American Health Organization a smart healthcare project is underway to make 17 health centers safer, greener and more resilient to natural disasters. We cannot and will not deny that the crime situation continues to affect us deeply. We feel it every time a young person loses their life through violence. It not only impacts their families but we also lose what they may have contributed to the development of our society. We cannot look at the crime situation without doing serious reflection about the way we lead our daily lives, raise our children, our interactions, the way we resolve conflict and how impulsive we may be to react or get retribution. We must continuously work on this as a society. Even as the government implements measures to help prevent, detect and solve crime. Internally, we've started a process of measuring the results on a weekly basis. While we have not achieved the kind of success we would all want, we know that the effort we are making will begin to pay off, remain committed to the multi-pronged strategy to significantly reduce crime. We've already embarked on the following. Empowering and modernizing our police force with communication equipment. Vehicles, including motorcycles. We now have 95 CCT cameras, feeds in strategic areas and in 2020, we will mount 525 additional camera feeds from castries to Grozellet. We've recruited over 80 new officers with targeted patrols already resulting in a drop in assaults. We reopened the forensic lab. We started with 12 city police and are now up to 42. We restored the operations of our Coast Guard vessels and radar systems which had been dysfunctional. The director of public prosecution has received increased resources for his office. We facilitated the strengthening of the judiciary with more magistrates and judges. And despite attempts to derail plans to build a new police headquarters, we will move forward with the new structure at the old prison site in the first quarter of 2020. Simultaneously, we're working towards tackling crime at its root with social programs such as the Youth Empowerment Project which focuses on mitigating risk factors that trigger criminal and antisocial behaviors. There will be a special emphasis on young men, vulnerable groups, especially children, at-risk youth and women in target communities. We also have after-school programs intended to keep our kids meaningfully engaged. In 2019, we increased the number of social workers and revised our incarceration and rehabilitation policies as part of the crime fighting strategy. The next few weeks, we will be making an announcement about impending changes to intend to accelerate the measures to bring crime under control and to strengthen the police force. As we begin 2020, we must also address the issue of climate change and safeguarding the environment. I appeal to all solutions to be forever cognizant of these issues and to do our part to lessen our carbon footprint and to take pride in our surroundings. I refer here to the indiscriminate disposal of garbage that we see in many of the places and clogging of gutters and sidewalks with debris, especially plastics and styrofoam products. The government has made a steady effort to phase out the use of styrofoam and to continuously clear drains. But all this means nothing if we as citizens don't take personal responsibility and stop littering our beautiful island. In my budget, I will also be unveiling plans for new technologies to deal with the disposal of garbage, solid waste. I will continue on the international stage to champion climate change and its impacts on small island developing states like St. Lucia. Over the past 18 months as a government, we've spent millions building and upgrading sports facilities in our country because we believe in our youth and we believe that sports can open many doors and build character, teaches discipline and focus. The achievements of our athletes, not just in 2019, is further evidence that we can compete and thrive on an international level. We can build on the accomplishments of people like Darren Sammy in cricket and Laverne Spencer in athletics. When 2019 won another gold at the Pan-American Games, at the same Games in Liba, Javelin thrower Albert Reynolds brought home the bronze. We continue to follow closely the success of sprinter Julian Afford, who is already setting records this early in the season. We have two amazing St. Lucians, Chris Boucher and Terence Mann, now playing in the NBA. Kimani Melius was named captain of the West Indies team for the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa. Our Under-15 boys team were crowned champs at CompaCaf. Victory was also ours at the 2019 Windward Island School Games. These successes must inspire us to rally around our team for 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo this year. It shows us that we must create the facilities for our youth to give them a chance to achieve even more greatness. We're currently working on upgrading our sports facilities with the lighting of Le Fag playing field in Choiselle, Sothebos, and improving Souffermini Stadium, the Ruby Cricket Ground, the Balotin Field, and the Derisso Football Field. It is why we have broken ground for the commencement of the upgrading of the Miku playing field, also to be upgraded our Denry Village football and cricket fields, just to name a few. The new National Sports Academy in Grozallet, where over 50 students are currently enrolled, will also receive new facilities. Not just in sports and arts, we're also showing so much promise. The incredible theatrical production, A Little Folk Tale, written by amazingly 20-year-old Monique Augiste and 19-year-old Jesse Meyers. They formed part of our reverting cultural showcase at the Cara Festa in 2019. Our musicians and singers taking the authentic Lucian Sound Global on a record year for Carnival with young band leaders spearheading that growth. To the young comedians, Derv Too Funny, Kedel Sonny, Noah Sees, using our culture and social media to make people laugh, to the innovators, to the young influencers. We see you. There is no stopping your shine. Let's face it, we have some amazing young people in this country. Next week we'll announce young up-and-coming talent from St. Lucia, who'll be named brand ambassadors. We'll also be naming cultural ambassadors who will leverage their credibility, their celebrity status, in the interest of our country. In 2019, I've had the privilege to meet with many of them, to exchange ideas and truly hear their voices. I look forward to more engagement in 2020 with solutions from all walks of life. I must take a moment to assure solutions that despite the empty accusations and the spreading of false news that seems to pervade our society of late, our government remains committed to good governance and transparency. In April of 2017, we illustrated this by passing landmark amendment to the Crown Proceedings Act, which was a recommendation of the 2009 Romshohoi Commission of Inquiry. The amendment allows for the recovery of public funds, not to be statue bound. It is worth noting that during the particular sitting of parliament, the opposition chose not to remain in the house and to discuss this critical matter. We also assured that the announced investigations into matters related to public projects and secret agreements are ongoing and I will provide the necessary updates in due course. Our government believes that all public officials should give full accounts of their stewardship and be willing to engage the public. Hence, we've been very active spreading factual government information via the bi-weekly publication Our St. Lucia, our regular pre-cabinet engagements with the press, regular parances on talk shows and via the national television network which has recently launched a series of new engaging programming featuring interviews with government ministers and officials. You can also find out what is happening on my own schedule via the Prime Minister's weekly diary which is posted on my Facebook and Instagram pages. During the past year, we celebrated our 40th independence anniversary with a range of successful activities. There truly is a sense of national pride beginning to re-emerge in our country. It is the hope of our government that we will continue to build on this and come together, united in a common purpose and empowering ourselves in developing our country by taking advantage of the opportunities being created. I wish to thank the members of my cabinet for the continued hard work, knowing that there is still so much we have to do to keep St. Lucia on this upward path. I also wanna thank my wife, Raquel, my family, my support staff at the office of the Prime Minister and, very importantly, my constituents in Miku South, all of them for their continued support and participation in helping in their own way to push this country forward. My fellow solutions, I know you feel that our country is on the move. You feel that St. Lucia is beginning to rise once more. As a leader and a nation unafraid to take bold choices, I know you feel the growing buzz in our country and that the region and the world is keeping an eye on us. We must not get distracted. We must remain inspired by St. Lucia we love. We know and we can feel. Now is the time. Let's do this together. May God bless you all and may God bless our beloved St. Lucia.