By Kurt Campbell
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Macorp Guyana has reiterated its commitment to social development with the signing of a five year Memorandum of Understand (MOU) with the Linden Technical Institute (LTI) in collaboration with the Canadian Government through the CARICOM Education for Employment Program and the Government of Guyana.
LTI received US$25,000 from Macorp and will be provided with the tuition materials/equipment for training from caterpillar. The institute will also receive $19M from the Canadian Government.
At the signing ceremony on Wednesday (November 20) Macorp’s Managing Director Jorge Medina highlighted what he said was a lack of trained professionals in the industry.
“It was in this regard that the collaboration and investment was necessary” he added.
Medina told the gathering that his company has designed several internal programs to train its employees but recognized that it was not enough and that Macorp could not do it alone.
He implored other companies to do the same and provide good opportunities which could encourage trained professionals to stay here and contribute to development.
Meanwhile, building on the point of creating good opportunities for trained personnel, Senior Technical Advisor of the CARICOM Education for Employment Craig Morrison said on the one hand the lack of same has forced persons to seek employment outside of their countries while on the other the lack of trained persons have caused positions to remain vacant.
He is hopeful that this MOU will turn such a situation in Guyana around and create a balance of good opportunities for skilled employees.
Also delivering remarks at the ceremony was Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr. Nicole Giles who observed that the MOU will lend to building a more competitive and productive workforce.
She noted that plans are already being made for the Georgetown Technical Institute (GTI) to collaborate with three Canadian institutes in automotive electronics.
She said Canada also plans to give $20M to strengthen distance education in the Caribbean from which Guyana stands to benefit.
Signing the MOU was Principal of the Linden Technical Institute Denis Jaikarran and Macrop’s Managing Director Jorge Medina.
