Tom Alweendo
Entrepreneurs have to play a key role in the development of this industry. In addition to that, it should be clear that the goal for these resources is to spread the wealth to all Namibians.
In addition to my post on how entrepreneurs play a critical role in the development of oil and gas, during this conference we also established the end goal for Namibia’s newfound resources:
To spread the wealth generated from these resources among Namibians, develop the skills of the Namibian people in the oil & gas professions, and to promote the establishment of Namibian oil & gas businesses.
This is how we plan on achieving this.
Our main focus will be on the important issue of local content. The idea of local content is to make broad policy tools that promote domestic businesses and employment.
This is done by requiring a percentage of goods and services to be from domestic companies and a percentage of jobs to be filled by local people.
This approach also motivates international companies to share knowledge and expertise with the local population.
We’ve seen how other petroleum-producing nations have struggled to introduce frameworks to protect and enhance the domestic benefits of their resources.
Unfortunately, once an economy relies on hydrocarbons, adding new local content requirements for producers becomes increasingly difficult.
This is why we need to learn from our counterparts’ mistakes and proactively plan our local content framework.
We in the ministry are working to create an internationally competitive petroleum sector that maximises the benefits for our people and leverages our natural resources for national development.
In this effort, we are laser-focused on achieving the balance of two things:
- Boosting local participation
- Attracting the needed investment
Tom Alweendo is the Minister of Mines and Energy. The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editorial board or The Villager and its owners.