EUROPE through a period of comparable change .
“ Greenland is in a similar position to Iceland not so long ago . Iceland didn ’ t have a high education rate and wasn ’ t wealthy compared to other European countries , with economic and cultural activities that were very insular . We are now at the highest level of all parameters in terms of education , wealth per family , etc . and this has stemmed from improving the breadth of schooling and creating opportunities for people to grow and develop outside of the traditional areas of agriculture and fisheries .
“ Our aim is that the majority of employees will be Greenlandic , but it will take time . Greenland has a large number of people competing for jobs in the fisheries and tourist centres . It is important that Greenlanders are able to access programmes that will allow them to consider other career options . In Iceland we are importing a lot of people to work in different industries in our country because we don ’ t have enough people . This might be the case for Greenlanders as well if the anticipated growth of the mining sector materialises but we want to ensure that , where possible , we use local people first before looking elsewhere .
“ The Greenlandic Government provides good support for those who seek education . There are an increasing number of Greenlandic students attending Danish Universities so that now , for example , we are seeing well qualified Greenlandic geologists available for employment . There has been a Mining School at Sisimiut for the last 10 years which provides local qualified labour who can take advantage of opportunities in the mining sector . You need skilled labour and as we own a mine that was in production for 10 years previously , there is a fair bit of
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