 Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution before us, and that is the resolution on the floor that was presented by the Minister of Finance to seek approval of parliament to borrow the sum of special drawing rights 11.5 million or US 15 million from the International Development Association for the OECS skills and innovative project. The countries that are going to benefit St. Lucia and Grenada. Mr. Speaker, as a parliamentary rep for Souffre, for Shajak, as I engage the young persons in my constituency, time after time, Mr. Speaker, the issue of skills gap becomes apparent. And as a power rep in trying to address this, at least for last year alone, I have attempted on two separate occasions to fund training programs for young persons. Earlier this year, I spent funds in training some 20 young men to become both captains. And ongoing now, which started last month, I'm training some 40 young persons to prepare them for jobs in the BDO area. Mr. Speaker, but what is most important for me as the Minister for Commerce, Business Development, Manufacturing and Consumer Affairs, only last month I met with the various organizations individually. I met with the Chamber of Commerce. I met with the Manufacturers Association. I met with Sleezba. And Mr. Speaker, what was coming out very clearly when I met them individually was the concern with the HR skills that you're looking for. They lamented a gap in technical skills. They lamented a gap in soft skills. And they lamented the fact that there was a mismatch between and a gap between skills needed and skills available. So Mr. Speaker, today I want to applaud the Minister for Education and I want to applaud the Minister for Finance in putting this critical project together so that we are putting an investment in our people. By having that investment, what we are doing is to ensure that we shift the foundation. Our young persons, we've heard how they perform at school. But right now, we need to sit down between government, private sector, Ministry of Education, the business community, and identify the skills that are needed for us going forward. I'm very pleased that this is also an OECS program. Because right now there with the movement of people, I am pleased that when we prepare our young persons within this program, we are giving them the tools not only for centrucian, not only for the OECS, but throughout the curriculum. So I want to support the resolution before us and I want to wish that our young people will embrace that opportunity. That is it, that they will embrace it and see that as a government we continue to put our people first and now we are putting our young people first. This is a significant investment of US $15 million. As you've heard there, we've invested for several things, but now we are saying we need to build a human capital of our country. And as the Minister and I am speaking on behalf of the business community that we welcome this initiative. And I know based on the conversation that we've had that the business community is looking to sit together with government. And I also want to thank the Honourable Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers. When I reported to them two weeks ago of my engagement with the business community, the Honourable Prime Minister gave a directive that the Cabinet of Ministers will be meeting with the business community to have dialogue. And the issue of skills will be one of the items on the agenda. So I stand ready and I support this resolution that is before us. I thank you.