Government Continues Economic Diversification Thrust via Technology and Global Services Promotion Progamme

August 31, 2017: The Global Services Promotion Programme (GSPP) continues to present opportunities for economic diversification in Trinidad and Tobago. Most recently under the programme, a cyber security workshop involving secondary school students, tertiary level students and IT professionals was held in Chaguanas. This cyber security workshop was a collaboration with RSC International, which focuses on enhancing education through technology.

The GSPP is funded via a loan and grant agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and is being implemented by the Ministry of Planning and Development with the objective of driving Trinidad and Tobago’s economic transformation/diversification using information technology enabled services (ITeS), to broaden opportunities in other economic sectors, especially with the current challenges in the oil and gas industry. 

A number of initiatives have been undertaken through the programme since its inception in November 2017, including a training session with Google for students and IT practitioners, collaborations with the business community, seminars for schools involving building computer systems, and an internet of things workshop with IBM . 

At the cybersecurity workshop, participants were introduced to the basics of cyber security through introduction to hardware and software, and were taught the importance of this arm of ICT in the financial, business and education sectors.

Chaguanas Mayor, Gopaul Boodan was on hand to inspire the participants to grasp the opportunities present for development of business and entrepreneurship ventures that can contribute to job creation.

A key fact for students is that globally, countries cannot meet the demand for cyber security experts, especially in the recent wake of public and private cyber-attacks involving ransomware.  Students were interested to learn that jobs in the sector pay upwards of TT $35,000.00 to $50,000.00 monthly depending on experience and certification.  The main point of this however, was to foster the passion and desire in the students present to pursue careers in ITeS generally as this is the wave of the future inclusive of careers in robotics, the automotive industry. Manufacturing, cellular phones just among a list of existing fields and fields not yet discovered.  The Ministry of Planning and Development through the Global Services Promotion Programme is certain that given time, the myriad of opportunities in the ITeS sector will come to fruition in all other sectors of development contributing to national development while creating opportunities for prosperity in Trinidad and Tobago.

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