Govt building citizens’ capacity to manage natural resources – Min. Harmon

─ representatives of Global Green Growth Institute meets with State Minister

─ GGGI providing technical support for securing funding for renewable energy projects

DPI, Guyana, Friday, August 10, 2018

The government is committed to working with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) for building the capacity of Guyanese to efficiently manage our oil and gas and other natural resources.

This vision was today highlighted by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon as he met with representatives of the GGGI, Head of the Department of Environment Ndibi Schwiers and other officials of the department.

While expressing government’s continued willingness to work with the GGGI on securing funding for renewable energy and other projects in the petroleum sector, Minister Harmon underscored the importance of capacity building for the development of other natural resources.

“I think part of the key to developing those other natural resources is the capacity of our people, it’s the human capital that we need to work on very seriously here in Guyana. I am very happy to know that GGGI and all the other connected agencies are spending some time with us on building that capacity,” he noted.

The minister said local content and other legislative measures will have little impact unless the citizens are able to efficiently take up positive roles in organisations.

He added that “to the extent to which we are able to get assistance in preparing our population educating them, training them and bringing them up to a certain level that they can take over management, control and so on of some of these projects. That is critical for us in our own development.”

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon in discussions with representatives of Global Green Growth Institute

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon meeting with representatives of Global Green Growth Institute and representatives, Department of Environment

The State Minister explained Government’s route of utilising solar energy and its plan to use natural gas as a transitionary resource, as the country aims for 100 percent renewable energy use by 2025.

The GGGI provides technical support to countries by assisting them in developing projects in a way that enables them to secure financing.

Renewable Energy Engineer, GGGI, David Fernandez is on a stint here and has been working along with the DOE and the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) and some private sector companies.

Schwiers said the intention is to ensure Guyana can quickly scale up its renewable energy use. To this end, the institute is presently working on a project to be presented to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for funding.

The GGGI is also mulling the idea of having a resident representative in Guyana. According to Schwiers, “this is very important because in developing the green state, capacity building is one of the key issues for us so I believe therefore that we can profit very well from the experience and skill set of the individuals from GGGI.”

Other representatives present at the meeting included Investment Officer, Charlotte Camille Chow, Senior Energy Engineer, Muharrem Askin and Director and Head of Programmes, Large Emerging Economies, Dr. Chanho Park.

Stacy Carmichael

Images: Keno George