2019 in Retrospect

Issue 40 | 18 Jan, 2020

2019 in Retrospect Continuing The Vision of a New Saint Lucia For All! 1

The Journey “Now is the Time”

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People Centered Projects

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PAHO Director Meets With Prime Minister

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03-06 “Now is the Time” 07

IMF Cites Favourable Near Term Growth

08-09 Three Pillars of Success in 2019 10-11

People Centered Projects

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PAHO Director Meets With Prime Minister

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Independence 40 a Hallmark Celebration!

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The Arts, Youth, Sports and Education

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Christmas Cheer

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News Bites

On the cover: Prime Minister Hon. Allen Chastanet with Young Saint Lucian 2

Continues!

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aint Lucia is home to approximately 175,000 residents, with many, many more living abroad, calling this 238 square mile gem of an island home. An independent nation since 1979, last year we celebrated our 40th Independence Anniversary with the theme “All in: Our Journey, Our Future.” It was a clarion call for each one of us, to reflect on where we have been as a people and where we are going, or would like to go as a nation.

As we moved into the year, the introspections and celebrations engendered a renewed sense of pride.

The island saw a number of unparalleled successes in 2019 in the areas of tourism, education, the arts, sports and entrepreneurship. Saint Lucia continued to be among the leading destinations in the region in 2019, offering a variety of attractions and events to visitors from around the world.

These successes as well as strides in the areas of infrastructure, improvement to our road networks and water supply as well as a reduction in unemployment figures, were all highlighted in this publication “Our Saint Lucia.”

In this issue we take a look back at some of these achievements.

This year, “Our Saint Lucia” will continue to highlight the positive strides made by Government in the various sectors. We will also continue to track various community projects and developments as we play our part in engendering the community spirit necessary for nation building and building resilience, on the road to a “new” Saint Lucia.

We are acutely aware that the road has not always been smooth and like any developing nation we have faced and will continue to face many challenges.

We are also aware, that we are not immune to the external forces or the forces of nature and climate change for that matter. But as we face the dawn of this new decade and as a resilient people, the first and last lines of our national anthem should embody our sense of purpose; “Sons and daughters of Saint Lucia…love oh love our island home.”

Editor, Toni Nicolas

“NOW is the TIME” Excerpts from the 2020 New Year’s Address by Prime Minister Honourable Allen M. Chastanet

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aint Lucia, 2019 was a year of continuing on our journey to bring empowerment to all people and to build a new Saint Lucia.

You will recall that on assuming office in 2016, and on other occasions thereafter, I indicated that our government would need about three years before we would really start seeing tangible results. Our task was not easy, in fact what we found was rather daunting - unemployment was at an alarming high of 25 percent, our country had gone through five years of zero or negative growth, we were facing crippling levels of debt and there was severe deterioration in our physical infrastructure, social services, particularly in health, education and in community services.

Immediately, our team of workers rolled up our sleeves and got down to the

business of turning this situation around.

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There is little question that the visible improvements in the economy and new direction has restored our country’s hope and confidence. Our policies are working and we are moving in the right direction.

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Five to Stay Alive: • • • • •

We reduced the 15% Value Added Tax (VAT) Put a freeze on property taxes Introduced an amnesty on hospital bills Reduced the vehicle licensing costs Doubled the allocations for the school feeding and transportation programmes.

Other measures included: • Doubling the budgetary allocation for agriculture.

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Addressing deficiencies in the security and justice system.

Starting the phased transition to the Owen King-EU Hospital.

We have spent millions on improving infrastructure in almost every constituency creating economic benefits and employment - roads, community centres, sports facilities, primary healthcare services.

We have improved water supply systems in the north and the south.

Unemployment which was at 25 percent when we came in, has been reduced to 17 percent according to the most recent reports from the Statistics Department, and we anticipate a further reduction this year.

The undisputed fact is that our economy has recorded growth in every single year since we took office.

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PROJECTS We are excited about the airport redevelopment project, our first FBO Private Jet Facility is now operational and the rebuilding of St. Jude’s Hospital continues at a rapid pace.

The Pearl of the Caribbean project had quite an auspicious start on National Day with our island’s first international horse racing event which attracted media, investors and visitors from all over the world and has created an unprecedented buzz about Saint Lucia, regionally and internationally. The public showed their overwhelming support for the project by coming out in spectacular fashion for this day at the races – attendance was in excess of 7,500. Many had flown in from New York, Toronto, London and all over the Caribbean region to participate in the rebirth of the South. The next race is scheduled for mid-February just in time for our 41st Independence Anniversary.

Added to the Pearl of the Caribbean project, we have the airport, the cruise ship terminal, the redevelopment of Anse Des Sables and the Cannelles project.

The free zone at Hewanorra, that was under-performing when we came into office, is now 100 percent filled and, more importantly, we have a waiting list.

We have also invested significant resources in Soufriere, another town where there had been widespread neglect.

We opened the Hummingbird Beach Park, upgraded and redesigned the Soufriere Town Square, redeveloped the Old Trafford playing field and converted it into a farmers’ market and bus terminal, upgraded the Sulphur Springs Park, and began work on two new sporting facilities. Roads are being attended to, a new hospital is being built and Soufriere has become the poster child for Village Tourism. Similar programmes are being implemented in Anse la Raye and Gros Islet and eventually rolled out islandwide.

To the north, we are making changes

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in Castries which includes the Market Redevelopment Project.

We have on previous occasions, shared with you our plans and vision for uplifting the entire city with more green spaces and less congestion; some of which will unfold during this year.

TOURISM Our tourism sector has grown steadily during the past year and we are truly defining Brand Saint Lucia.

Many hotels reported record occupancies especially during otherwise slow periods; a contributing factor being our summer festivals which also benefitted car rental companies, taxi drivers, tour operators and other local service providers throughout the summer.

I am so proud that our Tourism Minister Dominic Fedee was voted Caribbean Tourism Minister of the Year and Saint Lucia recaptured the award for World’s Leading Honeymoon Destination at the prestigious World Travel Awards. We have also regained our position as the leading tourism destination in the OECS. Our cruise tourism arrivals have hit record numbers.

Following negotiations and the securing of the several approvals, the physical hotel projects are set to start, among them: the Hyatt project in Choc Bay, a Dreams and Secrets Hotel at Cannelles and the highly-anticipated Cabot Saint Lucia, a game-changing project for the Caribbean golf industry.

We have experienced an increase in airlift into the island, resulting in over 400,000 stayover arrivals for the first time and we were thrilled in December to welcome our new American Airlines flight from Chicago.

ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE We are addressing our road infrastructure with an island-wide road rehabilitation programme, the upgrading of feeder roads, the rehabilitation of the West Coast highway and the building of an East Coast highway to more easily connect the north to the south; and thereby address the traffic congestion on the Gros Islet Highway.

Some of you have already seen the results with work on the Cas en Bas road in Gros Islet, the Forestierre road, the Ti Morne road in Union, the Saltibus road in Choiseul, the Belair road in Castries South East. Work is imminent for the road in Dennery Village, the Blanchard and Spring roads in Micoud South and the New Development roads in Soufriere, just to name a few.

The Ministry of Infrastructure’s Road Rehabilitation programme will cost EC$110 million, the Millennium Highway and West coast road - EC$130 million, the Cul De Sac Bridge – EC$30 million, Choc Bridge- EC$22 million and the Feeder Roads – EC$50 Million - nearly 350 Million Dollars, making this the largest such investment in Saint Lucia’s history.

AGRICULTURE In 2016, banana production increased despite the challenges from natural disasters. We are actively working on new markets and discussions remain underway with Winfresh to strengthen the company’s operations and expand its export base.

Under our Food Import Substitution Programme the Ministry of Agriculture is working closely with farmers to decrease on the food import bills by increasing our output of seven crops: cabbage, lettuce, watermelon, cantaloupe, bell pepper, pineapple and tomato. The intention is be fully self-sufficient in those crops.

We are also putting greater emphasis on our regional markets and exploring expansion with Export Saint Lucia to improve our agro-processing sector and two agro processing plants are now in operation at Anse Ger in Micoud and Fond Assau in Babonneau.

EDUCATION To date, we have already spent $25 million to address deteriorating school infrastructure, which is in sharp contrast to the $5 million spent by the Labour

Party in five years. We have finally put doors on some classrooms where they never existed, repaired leaking roofs, fixed hazardous electrical and plumbing problems which had been festering for decades. The list goes on, but we will get it done; as we have allocated another 10 million for school repairs for 2020-21.

This month we begin construction work on three Primary schools under the Education Quality Improvement Programme (EQUIP). These schools are La Guerre Combined, Gordon Walcott Memorial Methodist and Vide Boutielle Primary.

In modernizing and innovating our schools we have already started teaching computer coding and robotics. Our next exciting venture is the introduction of e-books, as a pilot project for form threes.

The new programme will be supported by downloadable lessons, info-graphics and internet links.

This will significantly cost of books for parents. We wish to say a special thanks to the Republic of China (Taiwan) for their commitment towards ICT in education over the next three-year period.

MANUFACTURING One of our biggest success stories has been in the manufacturing sector. In the last three and a half years we targeted this sector for employment and investment generation. New Investments: • Caribbean Quality Meats Ltd., a poultry processing plant is soon to begin operations in Dennery.

• Invest Saint Lucia has also partnered with a Jamaican company, “Itel-BP-O Smart Solutions” in developing a 20,000 sq. ft. factory shell set to be operational by April at the Hewanorra Free Zone, which will create even more employment in the south.

• A US$30 million expansion is currently underway at St. Lucia Distillers Limited. Similar expansion works are planned at the Windward and Leeward Brewery. Attention is also being paid to the restoration of the coconut factory in Soufriere.

HOME OWNERSHIP Invest Saint Lucia has also been facilitating home ownership for all Saint Lucians.

Two residential developments—one

in Bois Jolie, in Dennery and the other in Beauchamp, Micoud are currently underway at prices that are accessible to working middle income Saint Lucians especially the youth. Our Government also has major Housing projects earmarked for La Clery, Rock Hall, Talvern, Belair, Anse Ger, La Ressource, River Doree and Canaries.

HEALTH CARE You can expect the full commissioning of the Owen King-EU hospital as we have set a deadline for us to move in by the first half of this year.

Work is also proceeding at the St Jude’s Hospital site. We are currently constructing a 90-bed facility that will cater for both inpatient and outpatient services. I want to thank the management and staff of St. Jude for their hard work and more importantly, patience in staying the course with their excellent service during those very trying years.

Though the Dennery Polyclinic had to be redesigned, work will start soon on the redesigned facility.

We have increased the operating hours of the Gros Islet polyclinic to improve the services offered to residents in the north.

Also on the way is the construction of healthcare centres in Anse La Raye and Micoud, the contract for which was signed on Tuesday this week.

In this year’s Budget, I shall expand on our plans for a National Health Insurance Programme. We aim to ensure that all Saint Lucians have insurance and government will cover the vulnerable, elderly and unemployed.

In addition, 33 primary health care centres will be equipped to serve as the first point of detection for infectious diseases as well as emergencies. In partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), a smart health care project is underway to make 17 health centres safer, greener and more resilient to natural disasters.

NATIONAL SECURITY We cannot look at the crime situation without doing serious reflection about the way we lead our daily lives, raise our children, our interactions, the way we resolve conflict and how impulsive we may be to react or get retribution.

We must continuously work on this as a society, even as the Government implements measures to help prevent, detect and solve crime.

We remain committed to the multipronged strategy to significantly reduce crime.

We have already embarked on the following: • Empowering and modernizing our police force with communications equipment, vehicles including motorcycles • We now have 95 CCTV camera feeds in strategic areas and in 2020 will mount 525 additional camera feeds from Castries to Gros Islet, to Vieux Fort.

• We have recruited over 80 new officers with targeted patrols already resulting in a drop in assaults.

• We re-opened the Forensic lab.

• We started with 12 city police and are now up to 42.

We restored the operations of our coastguard vessels and radar system which had been dysfunctional.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has received increased resources for his office.

We facilitated the strengthening of the judiciary with more magistrates and judges.

Simultaneously, we are working towards tackling crime at its root with social programmes such as Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) which focuses on mitigating risk factors that trigger criminal and antisocial behaviours. There will be a special emphasis on young men, vulnerable groups, especially children, at-risk-youth and women in target communities. We also have after-school programmes

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intended to keep our kids meaningfully engaged. In 2019, we increased the number of social workers and revised our incarceration and rehabilitation policies as part of the crime fighting strategy.

In the next few weeks, we will be making an announcement about impending changes intended to accelerate measures to bring crime under control and to strengthen the police force.

CLIMATE CHANGE As we begin 2020, I must also address the issue of Climate Change and safeguarding the environment. I appeal to all Saint Lucians to be forever cognizant of these issues and to do our part to lessen our carbon footprint and take pride in our surroundings.

at the PanAm Games. At the same Games in Lima, javelin thrower Albert Reynolds brought home the bronze.

We continue to follow closely the success of sprinter Julien Alfred, who is already setting records so early in the season. We have two amazing Saint Lucians, Chris Boucher and Terrance Mann, now playing in the NBA. Kimani Melius was named captain of the West Indies team for the Under-19 World Cup in South Africa. Our Under 15 boys team were crowned champs at CONCACAF. Victory was also ours at the 2019 Windward Island Schools Games.

These successes must inspire us to rally around our team for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

I refer here to the indiscriminate disposal of garbage that we see in many places and the clogging of gutters and sidewalks with debris, especially plastics and styrofoam products. The Government has made a steady effort to phase out the use of styrofoam and to continuously clear drains, but all this means nothing if we as citizens don’t take personal responsibility and stop littering our beautiful island. I will continue on the international stage to champion Climate Change and its impact on Small Island Developing States like Saint Lucia.

We are currently working on upgrading our sports facilities with the lighting of the La Fargue Playing Field in Choiseul/ Saltibus and improving the Soufriere Mini Stadium, the Ruby Cricket Ground, the Balata field and the Desruisseaux Football Field. It is why we have broken ground for the commencement of the upgrading of the Micoud Playing Field. Also to be upgraded are the Dennery Village football and cricket fields, just to name a few. The new National Sports Academy in Gros Islet, where over 50 students are currently enrolled, will also receive new facilities.

Photo: Levern Spencer

SPORTS

CREATIVE ARTS

Over the past 18 months, as a Government we have spent millions building and upgrading sports facilities in our country because we believe in our youth and we believe that sports can open many doors, builds character, teaches discipline and focus.

In the Arts we are showing so much promise: The incredible theatrical production “A Little Folk Tale” written by amazingly 20 year old Monique Auguste and 19 year old Jessie Mayers, that formed part of our riveting cultural showcase at Carifesta 2019, our musicians and singers taking that authentic Lucian sound Global, a record year for our Carnival with young band leaders spearheading that growth. To the young comedians, Dirv2Funny, Keidel Sonny, Noah Seas, using our culture and social media to make people laugh, to the innovators, to the young influencers.

Let’s face it, we have some amazing young people in this country.

In 2019, I have had the privilege to meet with many of them to exchange ideas and truly hear their voices. I look forward to more engagements in 2020 with Saint Lucians from all walks of life.

The achievements of our athletes, not just in 2019, is further evidence that we can compete and thrive on an international level. We can build on the accomplishments of people like Daren Sammy in cricket and Levern Spencer in athletics, who in 2019 won another Gold

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Our Government believes that all public officials should give full accounts of their stewardship, and be willing to engage the public. Hence, we have been very active spreading factual Government information via the bi-monthly publication “Our Saint Lucia”, our regular pre-Cabinet engagements with the press, regular appearances on talk shows and via NTN which has recently launched a series of new and engaging programming featuring interviews with Government Ministers and Officials. You can also find out what is happening on my own schedule via the Prime Minister’s Weekly Diary which is posted on my facebook and Instagram pages.

INDEPENDENCE During the past year we celebrated our 40th Independence anniversary with a range of successful activities. There is truly a sense of national pride beginning to re-emerge in our country.

It is the hope of our Government that we will continue to build on this and come together, united in a common purpose of empowering ourselves and developing our country, by taking advantage of the opportunities being created.

I wish to thank the members of my Cabinet for their continued hard work; knowing that there is still so much we have to do to keep Saint Lucia on this upward path.

I also want to thank my wife, Raquel, my family, my support staff at the Office of the Prime Minister and my constituents in Micoud South, for their continued support and participation in helping in their own way to push this country forward.

My fellow Saint Lucians, I know you feel that our country is on the move. You feel Saint Lucia beginning to rise once more, as a leader and a nation unafraid to take bold choices. I know you feel the growing buzz in our country and that the region and the world is keeping an eye on us. We must not get distracted. We must remain inspired by the Saint Lucia we love.

We know and we can feel: “Now is the Time: Let’s do this together!”

May God bless you all and may God bless our beloved Saint Lucia.

IMF Cites

Prime Minister Allen Chastanet meeting with the IMF team

Favourable Near Term Growth for

Saint Lucia!

An IMF mission visited Saint Lucia during October 29-November 8, 2019, for the annual Article IV consultation discussions on economic developments and macroeconomic policies. At the end of the mission, Mr. Ding, mission chief for Saint Lucia, issued a statement that included a number of positives for Saint Lucia’s economic outlook as well as recommendations.

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Saint Lucia’s near-term growth prospects are favorable, supported by large infrastructure investments and robust tourist inflows,” the report stated, adding “to enhance economic resilience in an increasingly precarious external environment, near-term policies should focus on rebuilding fiscal space and addressing risks to financial stability.

Concerted efforts are also needed to mobilize climate financing and unlock potential growth through supply-side reforms”.

The IMF report noted that robust tourism inflows have sustained economic activity despite delays in public infrastructure investment. It went on to state that growth picked up in 2019 with record growth in tourism activities more than offsetting a contraction in construction.

On unemployment, it was pointed out that although there was a decline to 18 percent, this figure was still high, while inflation remains subdued.

Near-term growth prospects are favorable, albeit with downside risks, the IMF report stated, indicating that the commencement of large public infrastructure projects by the yearend is expected to substantially boost growth in 2020-22. “The major upgrade of the international airport and the road network will help address capacity constraints and has the potential to catalyze a more durable expansion of the tourism sector and related activities,’ the writer of the report stated. “Saint Lucia’s high vulnerability to natural disasters constitutes an ever-present risk to both growth and the fiscal outlook.

Fiscal Policies Further, prudent fiscal policies in recent years, supported by revenues from the citizenship-by-investment program (CIP), have helped to stabilize public debt as a share of GDP. The primary fiscal position is projected to remain broadly balanced in 2019, notwithstanding additional salary expenditures and retroactive wage increases from the recently concluded wage negotiations.

The report recommended that the government’s near-term focus should be on revenue-enhancing measures and investing to build resilience against climate related shocks. The fiscal measures that have been announced— including reforms to the personal income tax and the residential property tax—are expected to be budget neutral in the near term, it stated.

The IMF team pointed out, that government’s commitment to adopting a fiscal rule to guide fiscal policy over the medium-term is welcome. “To be effective, the IMF says, the fiscal rule should encompass a comprehensive definition of fiscal activities, including the fiscal costs of natural disasters and the lumpy expenditure associated with infrastructure investment. The fiscal rule should be part of a broader fiscal responsibility framework that embeds appropriate institutional and governance arrangements (including oversight and accountability) that ensure both the appropriate degree of flexibility as well as enforceability of the fiscal rule. The fiscal rule will need to be carefully calibrated

to strike the balance between credibly meeting the debt target and providing space for much-needed resilience building.”

The IMF also recommended that to support private sector investment, measures are needed to address inefficiencies in financial intermediation.

Climate Change On Climate Change, the IMF team indicated that Saint Lucia is committed to further enhancing resilience to climate change and natural disasters and that the government’s infrastructure programs include a commendable focus on building resilience to natural disasters. Progress has also been made, the report says in implementing recommendations of the 2018 Climate Change Policy Assessment including updating the national and sectoral adaptation plans, preparing a climate financing strategy, and mobilizing resources from the global climate funds.

“Decisive and targeted reforms are needed to address supply-side impediments to long-term growth” the IMF says. There is also scope to improve the business environment especially by enhancing delivery of online government services and access to credit, reduce electricity costs by making greater use of renewable energy, further diversify the economy toward higher-value exports, and increase local content in the tourism supply chain.

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Three Pillars of Success in 2019 T

he economy of Saint Lucia relies primarily on three main pillars; tourism, agriculture and manufacturing. Over the last three years the Government of Saint Lucia has also made efforts to incentivize other areas such as the information and IT sector as well as intellectual property and the creative industry.

While agriculture is still centered around the export of bananas as the main export crop, gains have been made in the production and export of a variety of food crops as well as agro processing in order to realize growth in the economy.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Commerce has also been working assiduously in not only assisting manufacturers obtain new markets, but has also been creating avenues for young manufacturers as well.

Towards the third quarter of 2019, the ECCB estimated that the Saint Lucian economy would grow by 2.14% at the end of 2019, in contrast to a 0.6% growth rate one year prior. Economic activity within the agriculture, livestock and forestry sector grew by 11% in 2018 and was expected to increase by 3% in 2019.

TOURISM Most of this growth was driven by the 15% increase in arrivals from the US market – an additional 1,156 visitors, despite there being no major difference in airlift from that market.

The icing on the cake: by the second week it January the news broke that Saint Lucia had reached a record high of more than 400,000 visitors in 2019.

Awards Tourism Minister Hon. Dominic Fedee welcomes new American Airlines Flight

Saint Lucia continued to see record numbers in terms of arrivals in 2019.

The month of July 2019 saw Saint Lucia recording not only the highest number of visitor arrival figures ever recorded for the month of July, but also for any one-month period in the island’s history.

This surpassed the record set in March 2018 by 2.5 percent, when 41,741 visitors stayed on island.

In July 2019, Saint Lucia welcomed a total of 42,773 visitors, an increase of 13 percent or roughly 5,000 additional visitors from July last year.

The U.S. market grew by 23 percent, owing largely to the hosting of Carnival activities and the additional airlift from American Airlines out of Miami. The Caribbean market recorded 6 percent

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growth due to a series of summer vacation campaigns.

Saint Lucia reported a total of 36,342 stayover arrivals in August, making it the seventh record-breaking month for the destination in 2019.

August’s totals represented a 6.4 percent increase over the same month last year.

The month of September has also gone down as an unprecedented one for visitor arrivals to the island, specifically StayOver Arrivals.

Captured figures indicate that Saint Lucia received 21,608 stay-over visitors for the month of September – a 15% increase from last September and the largest percentage increase for the year.

Destination Saint Lucia was adjudged winner of the prestigious title of World’s Leading Honeymoon Destination for a record 11th time. The announcement of the highly coveted industry accolade was made on November 28th at the 26th Annual Gala Ceremony of the World Travel Awards in Oman.

Apart from winning the highly coveted award, Saint Lucia was also nominated in three other categories, namely, World’s Leading Island Destination, World’s Leading Wedding Destination and World’s Most Romantic Destination 2019.

Saint Lucia’s Tourism Minister Hon. Dominic Fedee, was also basking in a major accolade at the end of 2019.

Fedee was named the Caribbean Tourism Minister of the Year, in the Caribbean Journal’s Travel awards.

Agriculture

The Agriculture Sector is showing expanded growth and the review of the output of most subsectors shows high level of production.

This formed part of a report to Parliament by Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Cooperatives, Hon. Ezechiel Joseph, who noted that notwithstanding the negative impact of climate change, Saint Lucia still recorded 5.8% growth of banana sales to the UK Market and also experienced growth of 7.6% in revenue.

He referenced the Banana Production Improvement Project (BPIP) along with the financial and technical assistance from the Government of Republic of China (Taiwan) as one such programme. The Minister spoke to specific growth since 2016: • • •

From 1,117 acres to 2,669 acres of banana cultivation From 230 farmers to 643 farmers operating 764 bananas farms From 195 farmers selling fruits to the UK market to 291 farmers currently.

The Minister added that with the positive impact of the Banana Production Improvement Programme (BPIP), the stakeholders are projecting a weekly export production of 17,000 boxes; barring any negative impact of climate change and of course the introduction of any new pest or disease.

With the assistance of a technical team from Taiwan the Ministry of Agriculture embarked on a programme that is expected to see the island become self- sufficient in six crops. The project will focus on cabbage, lettuce, watermelon, cantaloupe, bell pepper, pineapple, and tomato crops, and will receive financial and technical support from the Republic of China (Taiwan), for a period of three years.

Young Entrepreneur Nila Mangal is building a reputation as a leading exporter of agricultural products in Saint Lucia

Export Saint Lucia was also able to assist farmers and exporters in sourcing markets for produce in 2019.

Manufacturing & Entrepreneurship The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Enterprise Development and Consumer affairs continue to provide platforms for exposure for manufacturers large and small

magazines and books and patterns and samples with no commercial value, are treated as exempt supplies under the Second Schedule of the Vat Act. The Government had previously designed a VAT deferral system to minimize the impact of the VAT obligations faced by manufacturers. The system eliminates the VAT payments on imports of raw materials and no such payment is required subsequently to the extent that the manufacturer is allowed to claim the full input VAT.

In 2019 Manufacturers continued to benefit from Government Incentives under the Fiscal Incentives Act. The Government of Saint Lucia also amended the Value Added Tax Act to Zero Rate the service of printing, bringing much needed relief to manufacturers in this sector.

Educational supplies as defined under the Value Added Tax Act, Cap 15.42 (VAT Act) including newspapers, trade catalogues and advertising matter,

Export Saint Lucia one of the agencies of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Enterprise and Consumer Affairs assisted a number of smaller manufacturers and entrepreneurs with securing markets overseas for export ready products.

A number of non-traditional products gained assistance including sea moss producers.

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The New La Ressource Road

People Centered Projects

Newly Opened Climate Resilient Classroom Blocks of the Choiseul Secondary School

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n 2019 the Government of Saint Lucia completed a number of infrastructural projects across the island. The Government also embarked on the largest road improvement project in the history of Saint Lucia. A number of these road projects have already been completed with several others in progress. Infrastructural work also involved the upgrading of a number of health centers to more resilient facilities or “smart� health centers, repairs and upgrades to schools across the island as well as parks and green spaces. WASCO continued to upgrade its water supply in a number of communities, while the dredging and desilting of the Sir John Compton Dam is ongoing.

The Picturesque Soufriere Town Square

A vibrant Soufriere Beach Park

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Beach Park facility at Trou LounjĂŠ in Anse la Raye is locally owned and incentivized by Department of Tourism The New Gros Islet Human Resource Centre

The Refurbished Monchy Wellness Centre

Morne Liberty Park project unveiled

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HEALTH CARE: PAHO Director Meets With Prime Minister

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he Director also gave a presentation to the Cabinet of Ministers and congratulated the country for reducing poverty, promoting universal education and increasing access to quality health services On April 29 2019 The Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carissa F. Etienne, met with the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Allen Chastanet, and gave a presentation to the Cabinet of Ministers, during which she congratulated the Government for taking steps towards achieving universal health.

“We at PAHO are entirely committed to the fulfillment of this vision, and we know that our Member States are too. It is this commitment and resolve that puts this objective at such close grasp,” said Dr. Etienne. “Small island economies, like Saint Lucia, understandably face additional challenges to finance comprehensive health services. PAHO accompanies its Member States and works closely with them towards the integration of sub-systems, pooling of resources and mitigating risks,” she said, adding that this requires “stronger engagement and coordination between Ministries of Finance and Health”.

Dr Etienne recognized the initiative shown through the establishment of the Organization for Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Pharmaceutical Procurement Scheme given that access to medicine is an essential pillar to achieve Universal Health. She said that PAHO is ready to continue to support that mechanism through its pooled-procurement mechanism, the Strategic Fund.

“As St Lucia embarks on the endeavor of strengthening its health system to

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Prime Minister of Saint Lucia with Dr. Carissa F. Etienne of PAHO

ensure access to health for its population, PAHO offers its unwavering support to accompany you through this entire process: planning, implementation and monitoring.”

“As St Lucia embarks on the endeavor of strengthening its health system to ensure access to health for its population, PAHO offers its unwavering support to accompany you through this entire process: planning, implementation and monitoring.”

Dr. Etienne said that ensuring universal health goes beyond aspects related to health services, and also involves addressing the social determinants of health.

The topic of immunization was cited as the single most low-cost, highimpact intervention to protect health.

The Director of PAHO highlighted how countries including Saint Lucia have enacted legislation in collaboration with the education sector, requiring vaccinations for school entry. This, she noted, is a good example of health in all policies and demonstrates the commitment to immunization as a public good and a government priority.

The Director concluded by reiterating PAHO’s continued commitment and support to the Government and people of Saint Lucia.

Prime Minister of Saint Lucia Hon. Allen Chastanet stated that his Government was taking bold initiatives to assure affordable health care through working in four main areas: •

Designing and implementing a National Health Insurance

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•

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Strengthening of Primary and Public Health to ensure every child gets their full vaccines, increasing the effectiveness of the prevention of NCDs, increasing the national efforts to reduce mosquito borne diseases and strengthening the quality of primary wellness centres and medical centres.

Implementing a quality assurance framework, through the adoption of ISO-9001 for quality management systems Commissioning of the national hospitals to offer high quality secondary care.

Work on St. Jude in Progress

In 2019 construction work on the new St. Jude Hospital in Vieux Fort recommenced.

Since then, work has been progressing and the project will deliver a 90-bed facility that will cater for both inpatient and outpatient services.

The Project involves the construction of: a) A new wing to incorporate all the functions and services of the existing East and Surgical Wings. b) Integration through retrofitting of some existing buildings to achieve a fully functioning hospital to match the services of a level 4 facility; and c) Revision of the internal layout of buildings to be integrated for functional efficacy and compliance to minimum standards.

The National Independence 40 Parade

The Prince of Wales greets Saint Lucians in Vieux Fort

Independence 40 a Hallmark

Celebration!

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aint Lucia marked its 40th anniversary of independence in 2019.

And while the official anniversary date was February 22, 2019, a year- long celebration marked Independence 40 with the theme “All in- Our Journey, our future.” Activities were held throughout the island, bringing Saint Lucians of all ages and from all walks of life together for the festivities, which was hailed as nothing short of phenomenal.

These little ones enjoyed being on one of the floats for the parade A scene from Story of Saint Lucia

Among the events for Independence 40 were Legacy Calypso concert, Mr. Independence, Miss Independence pageant, The RSLPF Tattoo display in various communities, The island-wide Strides of Unity Baton relay put on by the youth, the Story of Saint Lucia production at the Vigie Playing Field, the Best of Saint Lucia Concert, the Independence Day Parade, the annual National Sports Awards, a fun sports day in Vieux Fort, the National Schools Music Festival, the National Awards of Excellence, the Prime Minister’s Ball and islandwide Prayer, praise and worship activities.

The Independence40 Committee also held a number of competitions including a “National song,” competition, “Pli Bel Vilaj” competition and the “Pli Bel Kaye Komesyal” competition.

National Monument unveiled

Saint Lucia’s celebration of its 40th anniversary of Independence was also heightened with an official visit by the Prince of Wales.

The Royal Saint Lucia Police Band was captivating

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The Arts, Youth, Sports and Education The ARTS Ronald Boo Hinkson in Taiwan

Carnival Band Tribe of Twel on parade in Taiwan

In the area of arts in 2019, the Government of Saint Lucia through the department of Culture and Creative Industries provided grant funding and financial assistance as well as strategic support to more than a dozen performance initiatives ranging from music, dance and film.

These included the Caribbean Youth Film Festival, Avad Dance Ministry attendance at a Dance Workshop in New York, Saint Lucia’s School of Ballet & Modern Dance attendance at CARIFESTA X1V Festival 2019, Gemstones Theatre Productions facilitation at CARIFESTA X1V Festival 2019, Secret Solo Band participation in Creole Celebrations in Canada, Support for the continuation of the Creole

Singing Competition (CHANTÉ KWÉYOL) 2019, facilitation of Gospel Concert by Shirleyann Cyril-Mayers, Completion of phase 1 of the Peace Mural Project on the RC Boys school wall - coordinated by Mr. Gary Butte.

The Department of Culture and Creative Industries also collaborated with the Cultural Development Foundation for a development programme in Image and Marketing for Soca and Dennery Segment Artistes and Managers in 2019. A number of other developmental workshops were facilitated by the CDF and Export Saint Lucia.

In 2019 the Government of Saint Lucia through its various agencies facilitated

Members of the Carifesta Team

the participation of a number of creatives at festivals and events regionally and internationally. They included the participation of Ronald “Boo” Hinkson and band in the 2019 Taichung Jazz Festival in Taiwan and Adrian Augier’s Tribe of Twel’s participation in festivities for Taiwan’s National Day. Saint Lucia also saw one of the largest contingents being facilitated by the Government to participate in CARIFESTA in Trinidad.

Through the summer festivals more Saint Lucian artistes were able to perform mainstage while carnival continued to offer more opportunities for the various artisans.

Youth and Education The school infrastructure is continuously under review, with over EC$25 million spent last year in school repairs.

Prime Minister with National Students Council

The Government of Saint Lucia continues to strengthen its ICT in Education Policy and has implemented ICT programs as well as SMART classrooms across the island. The Ministry of Education has also introduced the teaching of computer programming and robotics in schools.

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Cognizant of the fact that the formidable years are key to shaping the minds of future generations, the Government of Saint Lucia has commenced work on a number of Early Childhood Facilities including one in Monchy and another in Jacmel.

2019 also saw the largest expansion of the After School Programme across the island as well as the implementation of the pilot phase of the “Yes I can Programme” by the Department of Education, Innovation

and Gender Relations. The programme is a youth and adult literacy project.

The Sir Arthur Lewis Community College saw the appointment of a new Principal Dr. Keith Nurse, who is recognized as one of the experts on the Creative or Orange economy.

Hon. Gale Rogobert with Graduates

The Prime Minister and Minister of Education has also been meeting with the new executive of the National Youth Council as well as the National Students Council, to dialogue on youth development. For the National Youth

Awards, Minister of youth and Sports Edmund Estephan lived up to his 2018 pledge of rewarding the Youth of the Year with greater incentives in 2019.

The Government also salutes two

outstanding young persons who made us proud on the regional stage in pageantry.

In October Earlyca Frederick won the title of Miss OECS in Dominica while Kersandra Edward was crowned Miss Teen Talent in St. Kitts in December.

SPORTS The National Sports Academy

2019 was an amazing year for sports in Saint Lucia with Saint Lucian sportsmen and women shining on the world stage. The Saint Lucian team won the Windward Island Games, while our under 15 boys won the CONCACAF division 2 championships. Levern Spencer brought home gold at the Pan American games with Albert Reynolds finishing with a bronze medal for javelin.

In cricket, Kimani Melius was named captain of the under 19 ICC West Indies team while our young swimmers continue to medal and regional meets.

Meanwhile, the Government of Saint Lucia embarked on a comprehensive program to upgrade sports facilities across the island and to build new ones as well. These will include the upgrading of the Soufriere stadium to international standard, a new cricket field in Ruby

Soufriere, lighting of the La Fargue playing field and the construction of the Desruisseaux Football Field. The Government has also broken ground on the upgrading of the Micoud Playing Field and upgrades on the Dennery Village Football and Cricket Fields as well as the addition of new sports facilities at the National Sports Academy in Gros Islet which was opened in 2019, another first for Saint Lucia.

Laying the turf at the Soufriere stadium

Playing field upgrade in Soufriere

National Swimmer Jayhan Odlum Smith

Kimani Melius West Indies U-19 Captain

Albert Reynolds with PM and other Ministers

Under 15 boys football team

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Hon. Ezechiel Joseph handing over hampers to council rep for distribution

Celebrating Christmas and a

New Year!

Assou Square Celebrations

S

aint Lucians all over the island, from all walks of life and many from the diaspora celebrated the Christmas Season of Goodwill in grand style. Christmas they say is all about the children, the family and the community spirit, and this was not lost on the various MPs and Ministers who joined in to rejoice with Saint Lucians. They also brought smiles to the faces of thousands with the distribution of food hampers and toys.

And as we rang in the New Year, the celebrations continued with Assou Square in Castries Central, Vieux Fort South, Dennery and Choiseul. It was indeed a good year and the joyful spirit of the thousands who celebrated and gave thanks for another year was testimony to this!

All smiles with toys from MP for Castries North

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Christmas hug from Castries North MP Hon. Stephenson King

Hon. Sarah Flood and her Castries Central Team Hon. Allen Chastanet meeting with children in his constituency

Christmas Family Fun Day in Micoud South

Ricky T on stage in Derisseux

MP For Gros Islet Lenard Montoute with students

Hon. Gale Rigobert shares gifts with children

Christmas joy with Micoud North MP Gale Rigobert

Christmas Party Time

MP for Soufriere Herod Stanislas’ toy distribution

Hampers from Hon. Dominic Fedee

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News Bites

Saint Lucian Crowned Miss Caribbean Teen

Saint Lucian, Kersandra Edward was crowned the winner of the 40th Haynes Smith Miss Caribbean Talented Teen pageant. The annual pageant took place in St. Kitts on December 30, 2019 and featured 11 contestants from across the Caribbean. In August of 2019 Kersandra was crowned Queen of Gros Islet. The 18 year old Mongiraud resident graduated from the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in December.

Saint Lucia Introduces Tourist Accommodation Fee

Following consultations with stakeholders in the industry, Government will be introducing a tourist accommodation fee to be used for destination marketing and development. As of April 1, 2020, stayover visitors to Saint Lucia will be required to pay an accommodation fee on their nightly stay on the island. All accommodation providers on the island (hotels, guest houses, villas, apartments etc.) will be required to collect from their stay over guests US$3.00 and US$6.00 respectively on a nightly rate below or

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above US$120. The fees will be paid by the stayover visitor and collected by accommodation providers who will remit the fees collected to Government via the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority.

Guests at accommodation services sourced through sharing platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO will be subject to an accommodation fee of 7% on the full cost of stay.

Saint Lucia attracts up to 350,000 stayover visitors to its shores every year. SLTA has set a target of 541,000 stay-over visitors by 2022 and wants to increase airlift seat capacity and load factor on all flights into Saint Lucia to 85%.

The authority is also working towards increased awareness of brand Saint Lucia.

The SLTA’s annual budget for marketing and promotion is approximately $35 million.

Prime Minister Chastanet Meets with British Prime Minister

Drone image by Ronald Raoul

a fixture on the calendar of traditional events in Saint Lucia. Several years ago, the event was returned to its original home around the Derek Walcott Square, after being held at various venues. This year besides the food, drinks and sale of toys and games, Asou Square featured a number of fun activities for children as well as performances by a number of Saint Lucian performers in various genres.

Thousands participated in the two day festivities with many hailing the crowds as among the largest they have seen for the event. Similar celebrations were held in Dennery, Vieux Fort and Choiseul.

Nobel Laureate Festival Launched

Prime Minister Honourable Allen Chastanet met with the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who was in Saint Lucia for a short layover on December 26th, 2019. Prime Minster Johnson landed on a British Airways flight at Hewannora International Airport where PM Chastanet greeted him on the tarmac.

Prime Minister Chastanet took the time to thank the British Prime Minister for his country’s continued support to Saint Lucia and the region. He also congratulated PM Johnson on his hard won well-deserved victory in the recent UK elections.

The Nobel Laureate Festival Committee (NLFC) on Wednesday January 8, 2020, hosted the official launch of the 27th anniversary of activities honouring Saint Lucia’s two Nobel Laureates—Sir Arthur Lewis, and Sir Derek Walcott.

“We look forward to working more closely together on our countries’ shared mutual interests. I want to thank British Airways and their staff for their continuous support to our destination and of course for flying Boris into Saint Lucia today.

We look forward to welcoming him for a longer stay very very soon!” said Prime Minister Allen Chastanet.

Saint Lucia began officially celebrating the achievements of its two illustrious sons in January 1993, shortly after the award of the Nobel Prize to its second laureate, Sir Derek Walcott.

Successful Assou Square The annual Assou Square celebrations in the city of Castries has been hailed as a resounding success. The traditional activity which takes place on New Year’s day and New Year’s holiday has been

This year, the month-long observance will present the Nobel Laureates as trailblazers who paved the way not only in their particular fields, but for future generations of Saint Lucians.

The 2020 Nobel Laureate Festival will be held from January 10 – February 6, under the theme, Celebrating Excellence.

Guy Joseph

www.facebook.com/guyjoseph

Jan 13 Constituency Development Project in Industry and Delcer, Choiseul

Allen Chastanet

www.facebook.com/allenmchastanet | www.twitter.com/allenmchastanet

January 6: We anticipate that 2020 will be an extremely promising year for Saint Lucia as we strive to continue the positive momentum that we saw in 2019 which included record tourism arrivals, continued national economic growth, further reductions in unemployment and other initiatives and projects that have benefited and will continue to benefit thousands of Saint Lucians.

Dominic Fedee

www.facebook.com/dominicfedee

January 7 Saint Lucia has been nominated for 4 awards at the 2020 World Travel AwardsLC #LetHerInspireYou

Lenard “Spider� Montoute

www.facebook.com/lenardspidermontoute

December 31 Congratulations to our 2019 Queen of Gros Islet Ms. Kersandra Edwards on also winning the 2019 Miss Caribbean Talented Teen.

Dr. Gale T C Rigobert

Herod Stanislas

Stephenson King

Edmund Estephane

Sarah Flood Beaubrun

Hermangill Francis

www.facebook.com/galerigobert758 www.facebook.com/stephensonking www.facebook.com/sarahfloodbeaubrun758

Bradly Felix

www.facebook.com/bradlyfelix758

www.facebook.com/herodstanislas www.facebook.com/edmundestephane758 www.facebook.com/heremenegild.francis

Fortuna Belrose

www.facebook.com/fortunabelrose758

Mary Isaac

www.facebook.com/maryisaacslu

Ezechiel Joseph

www.facebook.com/ezechieljoseph758

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A Record 422,000 Stay Over Visitors 2019 WORLD’s Leading Honeymoon Destination – World Travel Awards 2019 Saint Lucia Tourism Minister of the Year – Hon Dominic Fedee – Caribbean Journal Caribbean Chef of the Year – Chef Orlando – Caribbean Journal

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The Government of Saint Lucia Celebrates these achievements with all our industry employers and partners as well as the people of Saint Lucia!