Kathmandu, Mar. 22: The Embassy of India, Kathmandu celebrated the 59th Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Day on Friday.  Around 300 guests, including several Members of Parliament, senior Government  officials, ITEC alumni and prominent Nepalese alumni of academic institutions from India attended the celebrations. 

 Launched in 1964, the ITEC programme builds on India's vast and rich network of governance and development related expertise, by offering both short and long term capacity building programmes in higher educational institutions and training facilities in India, in more than 160+ partner countries, including Nepal. It has been utilized by more than 200,000 Government officials, professionals and senior industry representatives around the world. 

Speaking at the ITEC Day celebration, Ambassador of India to Nepal, Naveen Srivastava stated that India’s partnership with countries are embodied through the principles of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,' and ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas’. The 59th ITEC Day was being celebrated to recognise the strides made in India-Nepal capacity building partnership.  Conveying that in 2023-24, more than 440 slots were utilized, the highest ever for Nepal, he stated that more customized courses for administrators, railway officials, agriculturists, parliamentary officials would be offered under ITEC based on the interest of the stakeholders in Nepal. 

Distinguished ITEC alumni - Justice Baidhyanath Upadhyay, Executive Director of National Judicial Academy of Nepal, Dr. Dina Mani Pokhrel, Attorney General of Nepal, Dinesh Ghimire, Secretary (Retd), Ministry of Energy, Water Resource & Irrigation, Rojnath Pandey, Secretary, Federal Parliamentary Secretariat, Major General Santosh Kumar Dhakal, Directorate General of Military Training participated in a panel discussion on their individual ITEC experiences. The celebration also saw an enthralling Odissi dance performance by a troupe from India led by renowned artist Kakali Bose.  

MP Dr. Shekhar Koirala, an alumni of AIIMS, also shared his experience and views on taking forward India-Nepal Cooperation in development and education sectors.  

In the year 2023-2024,  444 professionals from Nepal were trained in different courses in various prominent institutes of India. 30 Engineers of Government of Nepal are enrolled in two year M.Tech. course in streams such as Water Resource Management, Hydrology, Irrigation Water Management etc. IIT Roorkee.  Young think tanks/researchers from Nepal attended the Neighbourhood- First Fellowship Programme at St Stephen’s College, Delhi under ITEC. 21 customized courses (specially designed tailor made courses) were organized for Doctors (50); Government Attorneys (30); Department of Money Laundering Investigation (DMLI) (25); members of National Judicial Academy of Nepal (15), Nepal Police(180) and Armed Police Force (25) in 6 prominent institutes of  India in 2023-2024.  

Nepal, being a close and friendly neighbour is an active partner in the ITEC initiative of the Government of India. 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 and partner countries, but also to learn from the experiences  so as to contribute to the overall socio-economic benefit of the region.