 St. Lucia, resilient, innovative, productive, is the theme for this year's Observance of Productivity Awareness Week. The annual observance in its eighth year aims to advance the dialogue between the private and public sectors on topical issues affecting national productivity and competitiveness. Ross Daniel reports. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Esther Rigobot, highlighted the critical role that productivity plays in the efficient and effective use of resources for the production of commodities, the provision of services and the creation of wealth. The COVID-19 pandemic and other global shocks continue to put into sharp focus the need for collaboration across the board in order to respond to and rebuild following these shocks. As such, the Permanent Secretary noted that the theme for this year's observance is fitting. The focus of this week will be on three ingredients to our journey of rebuilding and restoring our economy and charting the way forward to a post-COVID-19 era. And I speak of resilience, innovation and productivity. Resilience as individuals, as corporate St. Lucia and as a society is critical to nation-building, particularly after suffering the devastating blow of COVID-19. Innovation forces the development of the talent and creativity of our children, our youth, entrepreneurs, craftsmen and academics. Productivity seeks to harness the full potential of all we are as a people, touches all facets of our lives and serves as a vehicle for continuous improvement and development. You will agree, all three ingredients are critical for our success. While many have labeled the COVID-19 pandemic a disaster, Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Youth Economy Honourable Wayne Girard noted that the pandemic provides an opportunity to build the pack better and stronger. COVID-19 with its economic and social ravages is itself an incentive to build back better and stronger. The theme for this year's Productivity Awareness Week, St. Lucia, resilient, innovative, productive is timely as this captures the collective action and perseverance that is required to achieve our goals as well as the need for an evolving mindset that will find creative solutions to move forward to recovery. Rebuilding after or even in the midst of COVID does not mean that we go back to the old ways of doing things. We need to encourage our people to undertake long-term planning that builds resilience in our systems, train and retool our human resources, adopt technologies for growth, business continuity and support infrastructure that improves the lives of our citizens. One may easily ask why is productivity important and why does it matter? As a country, there is a need to focus on productivity as it can lead to better standards of living and it exposes our people to more options such as better healthcare, access to higher education, better infrastructure and increased employment opportunities. Director of the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council Fiona Hinkson encouraged members of the public to participate in the slated activities in observance of Productivity Awareness Week. These include several panel discussions on various topics of importance. When you think about all that we've been through from last year and this year with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, resilience comes to mind. We really are resilient as a people. How do we move forward towards recovery and to tackle structural challenges that existed prior to COVID? How do we strengthen and restructure our economy? With the much needed jobs become more productive and competitive. We need to be innovative and think outside the box. The hard-working team committee, sorry, of Productivity Awareness Week headed by Mr. Glenn Simon has put together a menu of activities in collaboration for a number of agencies across the public service and the private sector. We encourage you to be part of the discussions as we look for solutions for recovery, growth and productivity. Activities organized by the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council in observance of Productivity Awareness Week will run from the 11th to the 15th of October 2021.