Georgetown : Setting the legal and regulatory framework was the discussion when a high-level team from the United States (US) Embassy and Deloitte consultancy firm met with Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo this weeky at his office. The US has pledged funding for building capacity in the sector under its Energy Governance and Capacity Initiative (EGCI).
EGCI is a US Department of State-led U.S interagency effort to provide a wide range of technical and capacity building assistance to host governments of select countries which are on the verge of becoming the world’s next generation of oil and gas producers.
The Prime Minister advised that, “we are trying to know that we can be prepared to deal with not only the new wealth, but the new status in the world that Guyana is an oil and gas producing country, and so we have to prepare the minds of the Guyanese people to deal with this new reality.”
The Prime Minister said it is the Government’s vision to ensure local experts function effectively in this new and emerging industry. Discussions were also held some time ago with officials of the University of the West Indies (UWI) on the establishment of a faculty of Petroleum at the University of Guyana.
“Our concern is that once we start extracting oil and gas, that we will need to employ Guyanese, that’s our main focus right now, that we have a core of qualified, skilled, competent Guyanese who can be attached to the new industry.”
The team will work closely with the office of the Prime Minister; which has oversight of governance matters; the Ministry of Natural Resources which has responsibilities for oil and gas; and other state agencies and ministries, since training Guyanese is critical to the operations of the oil and gas sector industry.
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