and a resource base of about $ 600 million. in terms of assets, eastern ranks as the third largest financial cooperative in trinidad and tobago. but your influence in the cooperative credit union movement has been greater than could be measured by your financials, as impressive as these are. eastern ’ s main contribution has been as an innovator ; stretching the boundaries of the cooperative movement, in an effort to better serve its membership. eastern was the first to move away from the traditional model of share savings and consumer credit to provide a range of product offerings more associated with commercial banks. eastern ’ s innovative loan programmes have helped its members construct homes, create and sustain small businesses, purchase land, and pay for advanced level education. among credit unions, eastern has been a pioneer in the introduction of certificates of deposits, loan protection and life savings programmes, and an atm service. reading through the pages of your various annual reports, i was struck not so much by how many of your members you helped to build homes, to buy cars, to start small businesses ( and i am not saying that these are not important achievements ). what struck me more, as i could read between the lines, was a certain passion for the fundamental principles of pooling, co - operation and mutual support. i could see this passion and pride in the many references to la joya, this jewel of a facility that so aptly represents your trail - blazing success. i could see this passion for community and mutual support in your education awards ; the credit union management courses ; the efforts to get youth involved in the movement ; and to get members to assist in reducing loan delinquency. i could see the passion for the co - operative spirit in your alliances with other credit unions to pursue joint activities, and in your strategic partnerships with credit unions in barbados, jamaica and grenada. that you could be true to your cooperative ideals even while you expand your range of financial services ; strengthen your business infrastructure to better compete with the rest of the financial sector ; all this, while striving to adhere to acceptable prudential and governance standards ; that you can accomplish all these things simultaneously, speaks volumes for the commitment of your management and staff, your current board of directors and indeed the entire leadership and membership that built this institution over the last thirty years. i am sure that there are a few other credit unions which have evolved in ways broadly similar to eastern and which can boast of their own successes. and i congratulate them

. notwithstanding these increasing efforts, demand continues to outstrip supply, and there is the widely - held view that the sme sector is still underserved. perhaps that is the main justification for this seminar – to provide an opportunity for small business entrepreneurs and associations, financial institutions, government bodies, the private sector as well as academic institutions to ( a ) examine the major challenges facing the sector ; and ( b ) to identify some necessary priority actions that can contribute to building a more vibrant small business sector in trinidad and tobago. today ’ s programme is organized around four ( 4 ) main themes ( a ) characteristics of the sector and the constraints affecting smes ( b ) fostering entrepreneurship and developing an appropriate business environment, ( c ) financing sme development, and ( d ) setting priorities for sme development. one of the major obstacles to developing appropriate policies for the sme sector is the lack of an organized set of information on the sector, its contribution to national output, investment and employment. the first session of the seminar is devoted to a discussion of these issues, drawing from the preliminary findings of two studies that are currently in the field. the second and third sessions of the seminar take a more in - depth look at some key factors that are critical to fostering entrepreneurship and to the development of appropriate business environment, drawing on current best practices. in the final segment of the programme, we have invited a number of associations connected to small and medium sized enterprises to identify some of the areas that need to be given priority, if smes are to play their role in the development and transformation of the economy. the central bank has a deep involvement in small business development – not by actually providing financing ourselves, but in a catalytic way, by encouraging financial institutions to be responsive to the financing needs of smes. recently, the bank expanded its support for sme development through its national financial literacy programme. we are now in the final stages of preparing a sme handbook, which is geared to helping small entrepreneurs better understand the business climate and to providing them with relevant material to assist in the effective management of their businesses. this handbook will cover issues such as product pricing, product distribution, marketing, sourcing finance, budgeting, the development of an appropriate business plan and the preparation of financial statements to mention a few. ladies and gentlemen, today ’ s programme could not have come at a more opportune time, since we need our small business sector to bolster our economy ’ s resili