 St. Lucia's Forensic Science Laboratory has officially been granted accreditation from the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation. St. Lucia's Forensic Science Laboratory is the first and currently the only accredited forensic laboratory in the OECS and the second accredited forensic lab in the entire Karakom region. I am pleased to announce that the St. Lucia Forensic Science Laboratory has been granted ISO IEC 17.025 2017 accreditation, the standard for general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. This makes our laboratory the only forensic laboratory within the OECS and one of two within Karakom to achieve this milestone. Accreditation for the analysis of controlled substances, firearms and tool marks, and forensic biology has been granted by the American Association of Laboratory Accreditation A2LA. The accreditation process determines the technical competence and integrity of organizations offering testing services. The journey to accreditation status began in 2019. To meet the high threshold for accreditation, the professionals and administrators at the St. Lucia Forensic Science Lab had to ensure the various testing processes and operations aligned with the requirements of the ISO IEC 17.025 2017 standard. The ISO accreditation signifies that the St. Lucia Forensic Services Lab satisfies the general requirements of competence, impartiality and consistent operation for forensic services. Achieving this milestone starts with a vision, an ambition, a dream, followed by putting in the hard work to achieve this ambition. The benefits of the Forensic Science Lab's accreditation also extend to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court jurisdiction. Litigants in civil and criminal court proceedings can be further assured of the reliability of the samples processed and analyzed by the Forensic Science Lab. Our criminals are always thinking, so we have to be ahead of them. If you think that you can use the science, the criminals will use the science just as you, even better than you. So we have to be one step ahead. We have to ensure that what we do, we do it well, and then comes the other part of it, the justice system, where you have to prove somebody is innocent until proven guilty but guilt only comes without any reasonable doubt and hence the reason for the science. Because anytime there is reasonable doubt, the defendant goes free. So it's a situation which makes you even more important that you have to be accurate, you have to be precise, and you have to use the science to the best of your ability. The Forensic Science Laboratory's distinguished accreditation status commands international recognition and has also created a unique marketing advantage for St. Lucia, which the government can leverage to generate additional revenue for the country. From the office of the Prime Minister, Rihanna Izudo.