(Bishkek; 17th February, 2023; 6.30 pm)
Your Excellency Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Aibek Artykbaev,
My dear ITEC Alumni,
Distinguished Guests,
Friends from the Media,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good Evening,
It is my honour and a great pleasure to extend a warm welcome to all of you as we celebrate the ITEC Day.
- The ITEC Day is celebrated on 15thSeptember every year which is the date on which Government of India launched the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme, ITEC in short, in 1964. ITEC is the leading capacity building platform of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. It is one of the oldest institutional arrangements for international capacity building.
Friends,
- The philosophy behind ITEC programme is that of ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam’ which means the world is one family. In the words of the Prime Minister of India H.E. Mr. Narendra Modi, India’s offer of development aid and our development model are guided by the developmental requirements of partner countries. Our focus has always been on Capacity Building and Resource Development. India has always strived for collective team work at all forums of our development partnership. Today, the ITEC programme offers nearly 10,000 fully-funded in-person training opportunities through nearly 400 programmes offered at more than 100 eminent institutes in India each year. I am happy to inform you that India has so far trained more than Two Hundred Thousand officials from more than 160 countries in both civilian and defence sectors under the ITEC programme.
- The ITEC programmes have been designed by utilizing India’s vast and rich network of governance and development related expertise available in higher educational institutions and training facilities. Various modalities are being used today for capacity building. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic affected the on-campus courses but motivated us to innovate and thereby introduce e-ITEC for online training programmes using digital delivery platforms. Several new initiatives include programmes such as ITEC-Executive which are short term training programmes for Senior Government Executives of partner countries focusing on policy issues. There are also ITEC-Onsite and ITEC-Expert programmes in which Indian Experts carry out onsite capacity building assignments.
- As a result of different activities under this programme, there is now a visible and growing awareness among other countries about the competence of India as a provider of technical know-how and expertise as well as training opportunities, consultancy services and feasibility studies. These programmes have generated immense goodwill and substantive cooperation among the developing countries.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
- India and the Kyrgyz Republic marked the 30thAnniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries in 2022. This coincided with the celebration of 75 years of the attainment of Independence by India from colonial rule in 1947. Development cooperation has been a major element of this warm, close and friendly bilateral relation between India and the Kyrgyz Republic. Our ITEC partnership too has been on-going for the last three decades. This partnership has been intense with emphasis laid on institutionalized capacity building of civil servants and defence personnel of the Kyrgyz Republic. We are extremely encouraged by the enthusiastic response of participants from the Kyrgyz Republic in the ITEC programmes. Government of India has now offered 100 ITEC slots to the Kyrgyz Republic every year. It is a matter of great pride that the ITEC alumni is nearly 1,500 in the Kyrgyz Republic and the number is increasing.
- Apart from the regular calendar based training programmes, India also responds to the country-specific request for training in specific areas of governance by organising customized training programmes. These are curated and organized by the leading institutions in India. We were happy to organize the programme “Preparation of Investment Projects” in January 2023 especially for the civil servants of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Friends,
- We are extremely grateful to Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Artykbaev for taking time out of his busy schedule to be our Chief Guest this evening. You might not be aware that Deputy Foreign Minister is an ITEC alumni. We are extremely pleased that several ITEC alumni have been able to join us today evening and we are thankful to you. You all are also now holding important positions in the Kyrgyz Republic. We are looking forward to hearing from some of you about your experiences while undergoing the ITEC training programme in India. We wish you every success in all your future endeavours.
Thank you all for joining us today.
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