Defence Institute to open as Gov’t positions Guyana to become premier hub for higher-security education – President Ali

Guyana is poised to become a premier hub for higher security education, with plans underway to establish a National Defence Institute in the first half of 2024 at the University of Guyana (UG).

President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali said this institute will operate under the umbrella of the National Defense University and will integrate leaders from across the region in security management and defence leadership.

This academia the president is referring to, is funded by the United States Department of Defense and it aims to facilitate high-level education, training and professional development of national security leaders.

President Ali made this announcement while delivering remarks at UG’s 2023 Perry Center Award for Excellence in Security and Defense Education for Hemispheric Defense Studies o Wednesday.

“This partnership [with Perry Center] …is about positioning us as a country, as a university and then the National Defence Institute, as the premier regional security institutions, where not only persons within CARICOM, but we are looking beyond CARICOM, we’re looking at Brazil as a major stakeholder and why not even personnel from Venezuela to be part of our security infrastructure from an institutional perspective,” the Guyanese head of state underscored.

Now that UG has been conferred with the prestigious accolade, President Ali challenged stakeholders to confront key issues that have noteworthy impacts on the evolving political economy.

Cyber security, the president noted is becoming a major threat in recent years, emphasising that it is a real and must never be underestimated.

Additionally, with Guyana’s economic landscape undergoing rapid transformation, another critical element is the need for intense port security since it is integrated into the global logistics hub.

“Port security is not cameras and men …it is advanced information gathering, it is strategic analysis, its understanding who are using their ports …so these are two subset programmes I think the University of Guyana can work with the Perry Center in developing a module around it,” the president posited.

Artificial intelligence (AI), digitization, terrorism in the form of gangs, border patrols and the need for more joint operations training were also brought to attention by President Ali.

“These are challenges that we face today that require strategic courses, that require specific intervention,” he stressed.

Moreover, President Ali challenged stakeholders to develop a curriculum on hemispheric security that can be introduced into the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) curricula to attract the younger generation in the areas of security and defence.