 Let me first recognize the Excellency, the Impulet Leasy, Governor General Emeritus, Captain Tom Lyon, and Director Randy Graham, staff and crew of the Lovers invited guest officials of the Government of St. Lucia. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Good morning. It's my distinct honor to be here on this occasion to officially welcome the crew and mission of the M.V. Rogues Hope to St. Lucia, the head of the West. The name head of the West was coined in colonial times to describe the stunning beauty of our island and the fact that she was fought over by European powers, the French and English, changing hands many times over the geopolitical chess game of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Head of the West is a reference inspired by the famously beautiful Helen of Troy, a story captured in the Greek poet, Homer's if-century BC epic poem, The Hilliards. Stories like that of Homer have been passed down for thousands of years through spoken words for oral traditions. However, the ability to write them, record them, and place them into books forever change the world. It is through them that we share our stories that are old and share new stories that will define the world to come. Knowledge, loss, often sets back entire civilizations, hundreds of thousands of years, into darker ages. The absence of knowledge and knowledge systems can keep back generations. It can keep people poor. It can keep people oppressed. It can keep people marginalized. Without hope, sadly, sometimes, the actions of knowledge suppression are deliberate. We in the Caribbean, where robust hope is spent in the summer, just celebrated emancipation day. It is celebrated every year on August 1st. A few days after you moved here at Castries, and a few days before the government of St. Lucia changed. And captain, when you spoke about, director, when you spoke about visiting, and you spoke about both sides, the only fortunate thing is more voted for me. In 1860s, people who were forcibly brought to the Caribbean from Africa and the descendants were given their freedom, freedom from physical bondage. We are sometimes upset. Sometimes we are upset about a few days in quarantine. Our forefathers were subject to perpetual punishing and cruel quarantine on the plantations. However, even after emancipation, there was Indian people, many of us were largely left to toil the same plantations and living under the same depressed state on the colonial rule for another 100 years. St. Lucia was a particularly special place. Our colonial pendulum swinging back and forth between English control and French control meant that we were finally left on the British rule with a French influence, prayer speaking people. Our emancipation story has been others, has been others one, but we have overcome. Amazingly, St. Lucia, a country, we have been able to achieve greatness at the highest levels of human intellectual endeavor. We have produced two Nobel Prize winners, William Arthur Lewis in the Economic Sciences in 1979 and Derek Walcott in lecture in 1992. These men have gone on to write the books that have influenced and inspired many countries and millions of people. Arthur Lewis gave both to the field of development, which spurred economic development in many countries of the previously known food world. He challenged the oppression of the 1940s, suggesting that the Caribbean could develop out of poverty for his work industrialization of the British West Indies. So Arthur Lewis remains to this day the only black man to have won the Nobel Prize in the sciences. So Derek Walcott gave rise to plays and poems inspired by the Caribbean scenes and characters. He raced through written wood, fishermen, by the Bay in Rosili to the Homeric stature in his award-winning classic, his award-winning classic, Homerous. He brought to life settings such as the constituents in which I represent Cassius East into plays, such as the dream on Mounting Mountain. Like these great men, we are committed to writing our own stories and build our own body of knowledge which we can share with the world. And so as you have come to us to share some of the stories and knowledge of the world, we too welcome you to enjoy our stories as well, whether written or to face-to-face interaction with our people and the friends that you've made in Zemmousha. One of the famous quotes of Arthur Lewis, which is etched on his tombstone on the moan a few minutes away from here, overlooking Cassius at the Zofa Lewis College named in his honor is, the fundamental cure to poverty is not money, but knowledge. Since independence in 1979, we have made significant strides at expanded education and learning opportunities for the people of Zemmousha. I was part of a government that achieved universal secondary school education 15 years ago, and we have expanded access to a liberalized telecommunications environment. Our mobile penetration rate is over 100%. And Zemmousha has become some of the most digitally literate people in the Caribbean. I was sworn in as prime minister just about two weeks ago after our 18th general election since added suffrage. And I'm very happy to say it was a peaceful chance of power. Many countries in the world would have liked to have the chance of power that we have in Zemmousha. So as a nation, we are very proud of the traditions that you've set for our people, where there's a very smooth chance of power. There is no doubt that we have come a long way. However, knowledge is not finite. And we certainly have much further to go to become a knowledge-driven society and economy. Some of the stated education goals of the new administration include removing exam and facility fees to make education more accessible to all, expanding the application of ICT in education, including the provision of laptop devices to all students, and achieving an average of one university graduate post-admission household. Education is the single most important driver of wealth creation and social peace to my government, and we'll prioritize it in our transformation. In Zemmousha, we have weakness. Unfortunately in Zemmousha, we have witnessed the collapse of most traditional local bookstores. Another telling story is that we currently have just one regular local newspaper in print on the island, when at one time there were five. And of course, we get our news from social media and from our digital devices. We cannot, and it was not allowed, books to become passive. It is for this reason that Locust is truly bringing hope to our small island developing states. And you have joined us at an opportune time when children are on vacation and should be encouraged to spend more of their time reading. And when many of our people are on the conditions of the pandemic, they have to stay home. So we hope that they can read to spend some time reading and gaining knowledge and get a little less bored having to stay home because of the pandemic. I also know that the Locust is more than just a bookstore. It's about bringing the world alive by good deeds as well. We welcome your acts of charity. And we hope you enjoy our country and its hospitality. While Locust has been operating for many decades now and many solutions are always keen to visit, this, of course, is very different for many due to COVID pandemic. We thank you for complying with our COVID-19 protocols and requirements, especially at this time. And of course, we urge all solutions to follow the protocols because we have to deal with this rather unusual situation. It is said that the Helen of Troy was the face that set sail a thousand ships. In Helen's time, those were ships of war. We are in the Helen of the West. And we are happy that Locust has set sail to our shores many, many times, not as a ship of war, but as a ship of hope, a ship of peace, a ship of knowledge, and a ship of enlightenment. Our friendship with Locust has endured the test of time. It has endured the pandemic. And it will endure God willing for many, many years. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you. And I welcome the Locust to St. Lucia. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.