 The Government of Taiwan has stepped in yet again to assist in inclusion in its COVID-19 response. A Czech presentation ceremony was held on Tuesday 27 April to fund the Ministry of Commerce Infection Prevention Initiative that is geared towards enhancing the capacity of lower-income level staff and owners of micro, small and medium enterprises to sanitize their domestic and business environments. We have a report. The initiative was designed in collaboration with the business community to assist the owners and lower-income employees of micro, small and medium enterprises, SMEs, to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. SMEs have been hit by the pandemic, given the need to curtail business activity to prevent the spread of the virus. This exacerbated the resources of not only the businesses but the lower-income level employees as well, who may not have had adequate resources to sanitize their homes to prevent the spread of the virus. Honourable Bradley Felix is the Minister for Commerce, Industry, Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs. In response to a request from the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, the MSME Support Program was conceptualized as a COVID-19 prevention initiative, geared towards enhancing the capacity of lower-income level staff and owners of micro, small and medium enterprises to assist with their adherence to COVID-19 protocols. This was in an effort to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. The Government of St. Lucia is pleased to receive assistance of just under EC$1 million from the government and people of Taiwan through the Embassy of Taiwan in St. Lucia. The funds will be utilized to provide supplies to 5,000 staff at the lower-income level and 3,000 owners of micro, small and enterprise enterprises to enhance the capacity to adhere to two components of the COVID-19 protocols, wear a mask and sanitize. Taiwanese Ambassador His Excellency Peter Shen said that the initiative is geared towards enhancing the capacity of lower-income level staff and owners of SMEs to sanitize their immediate domestic and business environment to abate the spread of the coronavirus. This program aims to support micro, small, medium enterprises through providing sanitizing items that the business community requires for reopening. I would like to commend the determination and the efforts of Honorable Prime Minister Alan Shastney and Honorable Minister Bradley Felix and the Government of St. Lucia to come back to the pandemic and rejuvenating the economy. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Investment, Enterprise Development and Consumer Affairs Sofia Henry found all those involved for their assistance. We were encouraged by the speedy action of the Department of Economic Development in processing our request for assistance from the Government of China, Taiwan. Thousands of lower-income employees and owners of MSMEs will receive reusable face masks and a variety of cleaning supplies for use at home and in their business. The initiative was very well received by the Government of China, Taiwan and the processing of the request was expedited by the local embassy. Executive Director of the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, Brian Luizzi, indicated that following talks with relevant entities, one of the priorities was to see the safe reopening of the economy. One of the things we've said is that we want to see St. Lucia recover and see the economy open safely and we want businesses, we want to help businesses, especially the small businesses, develop the capacity to operate safely. So we will give them information but we must give them the tools to do so and we thought this type of initiative will help them change the signs that are on their doors that says no mask, no entry, no mask coming, we will give you one. So we don't turn business over because we need businesses to operate and we need the small and micro businesses to operate. This initiative will cost some 945,800 EC dollars and will target 5,000 staff at the lower income levels and 3,000 owners of micro, small and medium enterprises. From the Government Information Service, I am Janelle Norville.