Kathmandu, Mar. 24: Embassy of India, Kathmandu celebrated the 58th Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Day on Friday at the India House in the Embassy premises.

       More than 500 guests, including several dignitaries, senior govt. officials, ITEC alumni and prominent alumni of academic institutions of India attended the celebrations. 

     Speaking at the event, Ambassador of India to Nepal, Naveen Srivastava noted that the ITEC programme, since its inception in 1964, has played an important role, aimed at sharing India’s development expertise for the  capacity building of more than 200,000 Government officials, professionals and senior industry representatives in 160+ countries, including Nepal, and indicated that fresh courses customized for Nepal in areas such as railways are being considered this year. 

    Alumni of the ITEC programme, including Dinesh Ghimire, Secretary, Ministry of Energy, Water Resource & Irrigation, Rojnath Pandey, Secretary, Federal Parliamentary Secretariat, Brigadier General Purna Bahadur Khatri and Major Reshma KC from the Nepali Army fondly reminisced about their experience in India. An enthralling cultural performance was also organized by the students of the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre, Embassy of India.  

   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 & 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 4.0 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 decade. 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.