Minister of Commerce, Senator Lynette Eastmond, was today speaking at the 10th, Anniversary Service of the Tower of Power Global Network Ministries, which took place at the Island Inn Hotel, Aquatic Gap.

She observed that "there will be issues, but the region needs to overcome those hurdles to capitalise on what CSME has to offer."

The Minster noted that the CSME is a "developmental process that will not happen overnight. You start with a legal framework, then build on it and that is what we are doing at the moment".

According to her, Barbados is one example of how benefits would be derived from CSME. "When we were negotiating the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a study was done to determine which country, excluding the North American ones, was most stable in terms of its economy and most advanced in terms of skills. Barbados was recognised as number one in that study."

She, however, noted that despite what Barbados had, and knew, there "seemed to be a lack of confidence … a great fear as to what would happen once we enter into a CSME."

Pastor Mark White, of the Tower of Power Global Network Ministries told the Minister, his congregation was very eager to get an understanding of what was happening globally, how the issues would impact on the church and how it (the church) could respond.

"We as a church, we have to work with government and business people, and we want to be au fait so we can build bridges and have good working relationships," he said.