Indian Embassy observes ITEC Day

Kathmandu, March 26: The Indian Embassy here recently celebrated the 58th Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Day. Over 500 people who include dignitaries from different walks of life, senior government officials, former IT students and those pursuing IT degrees joined the celebration. On the occasion, India’s Ambassador to Nepal, Naveen Srivastava said ITEC programmes being developed and promoted by India had a crucial role to make 200 million people from over 160 countries in the world aware of development experiences and expertise of India.

As he said on the occasion, discussions are underway to launch a new programme targeting the railway development in Nepal. Secretary at the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Dinesh Ghimire, Nepali Army’s Brigadier General Purna Bahadur Khattri, Secretary of the Federal Parliament Secretariat Rojnath Pandey and Nepali Army’s Major Reshma KC, among the I-Tech Alumni recalled their days in India while studying the IT course.

On the occasion, the Embassy of India, Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre students presented cultural programme. Launched in 1964, the ITEC programme has built on India’s vast and rich network of governance and development related expertise available in higher educational institutions and training facilities, to build the capacity of partner country, acting as a catalyst for human resource development in more than 160 countries around the world.

In 2022-23, around 200 Government functionaries, health and legal professionals, election officials and defence personnel from Nepal availed the ITEC courses, including 45 doctors from the Nepal Medical Association (NMA) for a course in International Public Health Management Development Program at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh; 32 officers from the Office of Attorney General for a specialized course at the National Law University, Jodhpur; and 29 officers from the Election Commission of Nepal at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management.

Other popular courses availed by Nepali participants this year include the St. Stephens Young Leaders, Neighborhood – First Fellowship Programme, M Tech courses in Irrigation, Hydrology and Water Management, Leadership, Management and Governance in the Emerging World of Disruption, Investigation of Anti-Corruption Cases Including Procurement and Contract Frauds, Dark Web and Crypto Currency, etc.

Nepal, being a close and friendly neighbour has been an active partner in the ITEC initiative of the Government of India over the last several decades. In the past 15 years alone, more than 2,000 officials from Nepal have been trained under ITEC. These capacity building programmes form a part of India’s effort to not only support human resource development of Nepal, but also learn from their experience, so as to contribute to the overall socio-economic benefit of the region, the Embassy of India said.