NATURAL Resources Minister Raphael Trotman and a team of officials from his ministry met with Mexican Ambassador to Guyana Iván Sierra and a delegation from the Mexican Institute of Petroleum (IMP).

The meeting was held to further update, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministry of Natural Resources and the IMP in March 2017, to facilitate cooperation in scientific and technology exchanges and capacity building within Guyana’s emerging petroleum sector.

To date, one young Guyanese is on a post-graduate scholarship to the IMP and a technical officer was able to observe an offshore environmental baseline study.

Since March 2017, the IMP has opened a new deep-water technology research facility which houses six state-of-the-art labs, a centre for evaluation and accreditation of labour skills and competence, which is recognised to award both Mexican and international certificates of accreditation and has carried out pioneering work on its first social baseline study.

In addition to the technical assistance and training to produce three white papers on the development of a petroleum training institute, legislative framework and regulatory framework, the IMP has now introduced a fourth white paper on oil field management.
The ministry is pleased to announce that a delegation of four officers will be travelling to Mexico within the next quarter of 2018, as part of this technical exchange exercise. The Natural Resources Ministry and IMP also agreed to pursue a broader framework of scientific and technology exchanges through the University of Guyana. (DPI)