President Irfaan Ali on Friday unveiled plans to facilitate the training of 2,000 Guyanese youths in nearshoring, which he believes holds tremendous potential and has urged ExxonMobil Guyana to make these opportunities available.
He made the statement during his address at the Guyana Oil and Gas Energy Chamber’s Annual Awards and Induction Ceremonial Dinner on Friday evening held at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, Georgetown.
President Ali identified a number of employment and training opportunities available to Guyanese and the diaspora, within the oil and gas sector.
Nearshoring is a process where companies shift some production and employment from overseas to countries near its area of operations that share a market, language, or time zone
At the opening of the Agri Investment Forum & Expo in October, President Ali announced that Guyana and Canada will partner to create 3,000 innovative jobs here, especially for the younger generation as his administration is pushing towards the development of science and technology in many sectors such as agriculture and oil & gas.
Against that background, the Head of State on Friday reminded that this was discussed at the inaugural Canada-Caricom Summit in October with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He said that the government will engage institutions in the oil & gas industry to offer extensive training to an initial number of 2,000 Guyanese.
“In my recent visit to Canada, I was able to engage stakeholders including the Canadian Prime Minister on the importance for Guyanese to have access to these opportunities. One of the problems is that we may not have enough persons to complement that sector, and that is why we have to focus on another dimension of the oil & gas sector, which is nearshoring.”
“We’re going to put our money to back our policy. That is why we are going to go with a matching grant initiative with our development partners. In total, it will be about US$10 million,” President Ali told the gathering.
Highlighting the numerous job opportunities, ExxonMobil and its other consortium partners, have provided in nearshoring to many countries across the globe, President Ali said the same must be done for Guyanese youths since the oil company is operating here.
“We’re going to train them at different skill levels for nearshoring jobs. We’re going to ensure they get the certification, the training. We’re going to invest in that for them, and then we’re going to go to ExxonMobil and say to them, ‘You’ll have to bring 2,000 of those jobs here for these 2,000 young people we have trained and certified to take those nearshoring jobs.”
He added that Guyana is an ideal geographic location for many large-scale companies seeking opportunities for nearshoring.
“We’re looking at the big picture. We have to ensure our development partners give us all the possible opportunities that their company can give us here in Guyana. And if we can train 2,000 people, and they have the capacity through nearshoring jobs to take up those 2,000 persons, then they have a social responsibility to give those opportunities here in Guyana,” President Ali underscored.
“The starting salary for persons who are working in the area of nearshoring is approximately US$35,000 per annum, just imagine when you train 2,000 Guyanese and they earn that amount of money per year, you multiply the two, you know how much that is in terms of our economic development [US$70 million], [so] let us capitalise on every opportunity given to us.”
The president reaffirmed that the administration will continue to advocate for equal opportunities for newcomers in the oil & gas sector.
Commissioning of embassies by UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar
Ali also announced that the governments of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, have unanimously agreed to commission embassies in Guyana.
He noted that the middle eastern states which are leaders in many sectors like agriculture, technology, and oil & gas, have vowed their contributions towards these sectors locally.
According to Ali, the input from these countries will further improve the trajectory of Guyana’s economy.
“We have expanded our diplomatic reach to the extent that the UAE has confirmed that they are going to build their embassy here in Guyana. Qatar has confirmed that they will build their embassy here in Guyana and then we are working with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so they too will build and bring their embassy here.
“It is not just a building of the embassy and having a diplomatic presence, it is what these countries bring with them, the type of development funds that they bring with them,” the president explained.
Diversification of energy sector
President Ali also expressed disappointment at the frequency of power outages, but reminded the gathering of the prevailing circumstances and struggles of maintaining stable electricity in Guyana.
“If I tell you I am disappointed in GPL, you would say I am lying, well I am not, I am telling you the truth, however, we must not forget the extant challenges that they are facing.”
He underscored the urgency for increased power generation capacity, as the government is going ahead with the development of the 300-megawatt Wales gas-to-shore energy project which is slated for completion by 2025.
“There is greater demand for power and energy and truth be told… the pace at which we are going requires the doubling of our power generation capacity,” Ali reiterated.
“That is why the gas-to-energy and the hydro-electric projects are so important to us in the national scheme of things, the problem is that we have to make up for lost time and also build ahead of time, due to the challenges GPL has faced.”
According to the president, key players like Saudi Arabia and others can render their assistance and expertise in the diversification of Guyana’s energy sector.
Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar, at a press conference had assured that GPL will be able to satisfy the current electricity demand when it commissions the 17 power generators that are expected to arrive in Guyana from Honduras. The generators which are valued at some US$27 million, will generate 28.9 megawatts of electricity. They were expected to arrive in Guyana by November 22 and be installed in mid-December.
