EXXONMOBIL has announced its commitment of US$100 million to a new science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) initiative in Guyana.
Describing it as a “transformational” investment in the country’s human capital and long term development, President Dr. Ali on Monday said the funding will support a central pillar of the government’s strategy to equip the next generation of Guyanese with the skills needed for 2050 and beyond.
“We have to ensure that the next generation of Guyanese, and this generation, are equipped with the necessary skills, training, and knowledge to take Guyana forward, to advance Guyana, and to ensure that we have the human capacity and capability to do this,” the President told ExxonMobil’s board members and senior executives during an engagement at State House.
President Ali stressed that education and training were identified from the outset as critical to Guyana’s development pathway.
To this end, he pointed to the recently commissioned Guyana Technical Training College in Berbice. Which would serve not only Guyana, but the wider region, giving the country a world-class facility scarcely a decade into its oil and gas journey.
“This is how you transform society. This is how you leapfrog society. This is infrastructure and investment we must make,” he added.
He noted that the new STEM centre, to be constructed on the University of Guyana campus, is expected to have its first physical building completed by 2028, with work to begin well before that date.
The location was deliberately chosen, he said, to elevate STEM education and place even younger children in a campus environment that nurtures curiosity and ambition.
While the physical infrastructure is being developed, President Ali said the government will move “almost instantaneously” to begin training teachers and facilitators through the Ministry of Education.
A key focus of this programme will be to dramatically improve outcomes in secondary level mathematics and strengthen STEM foundations across the education system.
“This is a really great moment for the education sector, a great moment for our country and for the innovators of tomorrow,” he said.
STRATEGIC PARTNER
The President emphasised that ExxonMobil is not viewed merely as an oil operator, but as a strategic partner in building a development model that is, strategic and balanced in its oil and gas expansion, environmentally conscious, with initiatives such as the Global Biodiversity Alliance.
“We want to showcase to the world a development in oil and gas that is strategic in every form, one that is balanced, one that takes the environment with it in its growth and development,” he said.
Reiterating his government’s commitment to a stable investment climate, President Ali told ExxonMobil’s leadership that Guyana is a jurisdiction where “the rule of law applies” and where investments are “safe, sound and protected”.
He underscored that managing a sector of this magnitude requires strong leadership, focus and, above all, trust between the government and its partners.
“Exxon is our partner, and we have to confront the opportunities of the future as partners, there is no way we are separating ourselves from each other. This is a stable environment,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chair and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Darren Woods said since ExxonMobil’s first offshore oil discovery just over a decade ago, the company had been committed not only to responsibly developing oil and gas resources, but also to ensuring that offshore production “creates opportunities for progress onshore.”
He said the company shared President Irfaan Ali’s ambition to use these resources to transform the economy and bring “enduring prosperity” to the Guyanese people.
Reflecting on ExxonMobil’s role in Guyana since the Stabroek Block discovery, Woods said that in just ten years the find had changed the country’s future. He added that he was confident the next decade would deliver even more, powered by the people of Guyana and built on education