Minister of the Public Service Dr. Jennifer Westford Wednesday received a courtesy call from Chinese Ambassador Yu Wenzhe at her Waterloo Street office
The visit came as no surprise to Minister Westford who noted that Guyana and China share a long history of collaboration especially in the area of human resource training. Dr. Westford said that as far back as the 1980s, the Chinese have been training Guyanese, especially in the area of textiles. She noted that this has moved apace in the last five years with the availability of more scholarships in a range of subject areas including Medicine, Agricultural Science, Information Technology, Engineering and Languages.
The minister explained that Government chooses the area of study according to its planned developmental thrust. There are 28 students currently pursuing scholarship opportunities in China and, according to Dr. Westford, 15 have graduated in the last five years.
Another area of discussion too, the minister said, is collaboration on a mechanism for ensuring the public service readiness of graduates. Minister Westford explained that this could entail an examination as well as a monitoring mechanism to ensure high performance and growth while serving.
Ambassador Yu described the discussions as fruitful, noting the history of friendship and cooperation between the two countries, especially in the area of academia. Yu said that with the scholarships made available at both undergraduate and graduate levels, it is hoped that students chosen to pursue their vocational development would also become friendship ambassadors, whilst working to develop their country.