MTI Corporate Restructuring

In 2006, MTI finalized its Strategic Plan, signaling a new corporate direction and structure for the Ministry. The Plan is designed to help us re-focus on the Ministry’s core competencies to ensure that it delivers to our clients, i.e. ensuring the further development of the non-energy sector and contributing to the nation’s economic growth.

According to Permanent Secretary Carl Francis, the Strategic Plan is a major component in the drive “…to ensure a re-engineered and reformed MTI, committed to delivering on its mandate, to develop and grow business, trade and investment, in keeping with the objectives for national development as outlined in Vision 2020, under which we have responsibility for Pillar Three – “Enabling Competitive Businesses”.

Among other things, the Strategic plan proposes a new organizational structure, which was agreed to by Cabinet early last year. The major component of this structure involved the creation of four key functional areas or directorates –

· Investments,

· Trade,

· Business Development and

· Strategy and Policy.

Earlier this year MTI moved forward with the first Phase of Implementation, with the selection of Directors to fill three out of these four posts and the re-alignment of staff within the four new Directorates. With regard to the Investments Directorate, staff of this department will report to DPS Wayne Punnette until a Director is selected.

After a stringent selection and interview process co-ordinated by Government Human Resource Services (GHRS) and MTI, and which began with advertisements in the newspapers, three individuals were offered the positions of new directors. They are:-

Norris Herbert – Director, Trade

Norris Herbert was previously the Assistant Director, Trade Promotion and Development at MTI, where his portfolio included responsibility for World Trade Organization (WTO), African-Caribbean-Pacific/European Union (ACP-EU) Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Bilateral Trade Agreements.

As the new Director of Trade, he will lead a team responsible for, among other things, development and management of market access for our exporters; conducting trade negotiations; identifying trade opportunities and developing strategies for their exploitation and identifying, managing our obligations under major multilateral and bilateral trade agreements, in particular our relationship with the WTO and communicating with stakeholders.

Mr. Herbert has over 24 years experience in the public service, previously at the Ministry of Works and Transport and later on at MTI. He is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, with a Masters Degree in Management and Implementation of Development Projects from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST).

Ramesh Sarabjit – Director, Business Development

Formerly a Senior Project Implementation Officer with the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources and then Senior Economist at MTI, Ramesh Sarabjit was previously responsible for matters pertaining to CARICOM, ACP, and the WTO, and development of the local services sector, especially the formation of the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries. He was also part of the Ministry’s team which negotiated the Economic Partnership Agreement between CARIFORUM and the European Union.

As Director, Business Development, the responsibilities of Mr. Sarabjit along with his team, will include implementation of MTI’s policies and strategies designed to develop and grow industries in the non-energy services and manufacturing sectors; managing the direction and focus of MTI State Agencies; facilitating Public/Private partnerships; designing and co-ordinating export oriented programmes, developing industry action plans for identified sectors, maintaining relationships with Trade Related Institutions (TRIs) and managing stakeholder relationships.

Mr. Sarabjit holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the University of the West Indies. He has had extensive post-graduate training at the regional and international levels in trade and industry matters and has co-authored critical policy and research documents on the local services sector, its challenges and opportunities for growth.

Randall Karim - Director, Policy and Strategy

Randall Karim comes to his new post having served as a Trade Specialist at MTI for the last five years. At that time he had primary responsibility for coordinating Trinidad and Tobago’s participation in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and WTO negotiations. During his tenure he also served on a number of Cabinet appointed committees tasked with developing trade-related policies for Trinidad and Tobago.

Mr. Karim will lead a team whose responsibilities will include significant research, monitoring and evaluation; assessment of trade, business and investment policy performance against measurable outcomes, provision of data for the development of national strategies for export, investment promotion and business development; facilitating the development of a supporting legislative framework; and development of projects in keeping with the Ministry’s strategic objectives.

Mr. Karim holds a Bachelor’s Degree, an Msc in Economics and an MBA from the University of the West Indies. He is also a graduate of the Executive Program, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA.

The corporate restructuring process is continuing, with interviews being conducted for mid-level technical posts and a new Change Manager to be appointed soon.