PCM & MAT Kosovo Weather the COVID-19 Storm – Message from Ben Remfrey, MD

PCM & MAT Kosovo Weather the COVID-19 Storm – Message from Ben Remfrey, MD of PCM & MK

We know that 2020 has been a tough year for everyone in our industry, but despite the challenges presented we have come through together very much as a team and we consider ourselves stronger for the experience.  Although no one can claim victory yet over COVID-19 and the disruptions it brought to businesses, projects, mobility and logistics, the way forward looks much brighter than it did for most of 2020.

In the second quarter of 2020, no one could travel pretty much, and everyone hunkered down. Unlike many, we kept things together, kept all our staff employed and got busy with important upgrades and infrastructure work, a lot of it done “from home”. In the second half of 2020, we ran reduced courses initially in Montenegro, and then when travel restrictions eased in Kosovo too, we also ran 2 IMAS compliant courses at the school in Peja, ending in October.  Thereafter, we postponed further courses in 2020 until January 2021, as a second COVID wave hit most countries where our students were hoping to travel from, which would have meant that many students would have had to at least self-quarantine after getting back home, thus making the time-commitment that comes with attendance of a course prohibitive for many.

So clearly we had periods without training in 2020, but we forged ahead with improvements to the company’s processes and procedures, brought in more administration and support staff, conducted staff training and also made many improvements to the training facilities, both in Kosovo and in Montenegro.  We are ready for 2021 like never before!

In October our Training Cadre expanded yet again and mobilized for a November deployment to an in-country mission assisting in national capability development and delivering training as part of an emergency intervention.  We are delighted to say that the project has achieved an exceptionally good start and will continue for many months.

As we look back at 2020 we are grateful for what our organization has come through, and how well all those involved – including our clients – have done to weather this tough period.  We are grateful and privileged to have reached the end of 2020 not just standing in reasonably good shape, not just with the same team, not just with the same facilities, but with a substantially enlarged team, fully employed, and substantially improved and enlarged facilities!

2021 is almost upon us – our first scheduled International IMAS EOD Compliant course (IMAS EOD Level 2) starts on Monday the 11^th January 2021 and will be followed by an IMAS EOD Level 3 course starting on Monday 31^st January 2021 – both courses are well subscribed, but a few places are still available.

For those wishing to travel to Kosovo to attend our courses, we can support this by assisting with a visa (if necessary, as many country’s’ nationals do not need visas to enter Kosovo – please ask for details), however we also must stress that all those travelling to attend training in Kosovo must have a COVID-19 PCR Test done prior to travel and not older than 72-hrs on arrival in Kosovo.

It only remains for me, on behalf of the Directors, to thank the PCM & MAT Kosovo staff for their absolute best efforts in 2020, a year where we all looked after each other, and to wish all our clients a much more fruitful and joyous 2021.

Ben.

Our IMAS Compliant EOD Level 3 Course Graduates, September 2020.

For more information please inquire to: info@pcm-erw.com