Skills training, certification for Venezuelan migrants in Guyana – Hamilton

Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton told the National Assembly on Thursday that the government will be moving to ensure that Venezuelan migrants in Guyana can benefit from skills training and those with skills, can secure certification.

Hamilton was at the time responding to a question from Opposition Parliamentarian Tabitha Sarabo-Halley.

He said the Ministry of Labour was engaging its partners at the International Office for Migration (IOM), United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Labour Organization.

These engagements he said are geared at compiling specific and definitive data on Venezuelan migrants in Guyana.

Once that information is in hand, he said the government will move, through the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) to train and accredit these migrants. This will enable them to secure jobs and help to contribute to the local economy.

The Guyana Government has long complained of a shortage of skilled labour locally with the takeoff of the oil and gas industry.

“By end of the third quarter preliminary report will be in place,” Hamilton told the House. That report will inform on the skills of migrants and the types of training needed.

“Firstly, you have to know how many migrants are here. Secondly, you have to engage to do an assessment.

“We are engaged with the UNHCR to do a project that they will pay for to deal with the specific matter of skillset among and within the Venezuelan migrants. That is a work in progress,” Hamilton explained.

He assured that this is a work in progress.