 The 34th meeting of the General Membership of the Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies, or CANTA, was hosted by the St. Lucia Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training at the Bay Gardens Hotel. Established in November of 2003, CANTA is an alliance of CARICOM State's National Training Agencies and other TVET APEX bodies. The 14-member group is supported as the CARICOM Regional Coordinating Mechanism for TVET's Implementation branch. Its objectives are to support the growth of a competitive regional workforce and to ease the movement of certified skilled workers within the CSME, the Caribbean Single Market and Economy. Chairman of CANTA, Eastman Henderson, says integral to achieving this objective is the promotion of uniform standards, driven by competency-based training, assessment and certification within the Caribbean community, as has been accomplished with the Caribbean Vocational Qualification, the CDQ. Education transformation is taking place. People, the countries are looking to transform their educational systems. Why? Because right across this Caribbean, we have high youth unemployment. We have gangs and we have relentless youth criminal activity taking place. So we have to look at the product of our educational system and at the centre of these transformations, if you look carefully, TVET is at the centre. The Government of St. Lucia has placed great emphasis on the growth of TVET on the island, including identifying four secondary schools to become TVET-centred schools. Education Minister Hon. Sean Edward says the role of CANTA is even more relevant today, given the new dynamics of the global economy. However, he advised against adopting the start-over approach. Therefore, it is incumbent upon every national training agency represented here and joining virtually to recognise that you play a critical role in shaping vocational education and skills acquisition within your respective countries or jurisdictions. We should not look to reinvent the wheel. But in programming to move forward, we must demonstrate an appreciation for the work that would have been done before. CANTA's general membership meetings serve to provide opportunities to develop and strengthen new and existing networks, while at the same time deliberating on policies and strategies aimed at enhancing technical vocational education and training TVET locally and regionally. Chairman of the Board of Directors of the St. Lucia TVET Council, Joseph Alexander says whatever challenges the region may be confronted with, it was important for CANTA to stay the course in achieving set objectives, including fighting stigmas. The misperception in TVET not only occurs in our part of the hemisphere, but as long as existed all over the world, including developed and developing countries. It can be argued that the primary cause of the disregard for TVET is partly the result of perceiving TVET as education for youth with low academic abilities. Misperception equates academic education with intelligence and TVET with a lack of intelligence. The two-day exercise also saw presentations made by the National Institute of Technical Vocational Training, Infotep, Korea International Cooperation Agency, COECA and the African Union to the meeting as a means of sharing best practices. Members of CANTA were also expected to select a new Executive Committee to oversee CANTA's operations for the period 2024 to 2026. From the Communications Unit of the Department of Education, Innovation and Vocational Training, I am Chris Satney, reporting.