 Minister for Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs Hon. Moses Jabatist has urged the nation to pay homage and celebrate the contribution of senior citizens to the development of St. Lucia. The call comes as the Ministry commemorated International Day of the Older Persons on the 1st of October. It is a time for us to reflect on the contributions of elderly St. Lucia's to our development. It is also a time for the new Ministry for Health, Wellness and Elderly Affairs to use the occasion as a springboard for a new kind of engagement with our older resourceful people. We salute the contributions they have made to the development of our beloved homeland. It is because of their commitment to building strong families and communities around the island, and in their youth that we can be proud of the resilient people we have become. We cannot forget them in this era. Indeed, we are the generation that will actualize their vision of a St. Lucia which is consistently able to offer its citizens the very best in socio-economic opportunities. The global celebration of older persons is being held under the theme digital equity for all ages. Some of the focus areas under the theme for 2021 are bringing awareness of the importance of digital inclusion of older persons, highlighting policies to leverage digital technologies for full achievement of the sustainable development goals, addressing public and private interests in the areas of availability, connectivity, design, affordability, capacity building, infrastructure and innovation. Exploring the role of policies and legal frameworks to ensure privacy and safety of older persons in the digital world and highlighting the need for a legally binding instrument on the rights of older persons and an intersectional person-centered human rights approach for society for all ages. The Ministry of Health, Wellness and Early Affairs sees the International Day for older persons as the start of our contribution to the decade of healthy aging which commenced this year 2021 and will go until 2030. It gives us an opportunity to bring together our government, international agencies and development partners, academia, professionals, the private sector and the media for 10 years of collaborative and innovative actions to decisively impact and improve the lives of older people, their family and wider communities.