India commits 125 scholarships for Omanis under ITEC this year

ITEC was launched in September 1964 as a bilateral programme of assistance of the Government of India for capacity building of friendly developing countries

The Embassy of India, Muscat, celebrated the 55th anniversary of the Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Day under the auspices of Shaikh Khalid bin Omar al Marhoon, Minister of Civil Service, last week. The event was attended by a number of senior officials from various ministries and institutions in Oman as well.

Around 200 ITEC alumni from Oman, comprising Omani officials and professionals, who have participated in various training courses in India under ITEC Programme during previous years, attended the celebration.

The ITEC Programme was launched in September 1964 as a bilateral programme of assistance of the Government of India for capacity building of friendly developing countries. It has emerged as a key vehicle for India’s contribution to Human Resource Development of partner countries. Under the ITEC Programme, every year India provides around 14,000 scholarships in around 300 short, medium and long-term training courses conducted in 100 stateof-the-art institutions of learning and excellence for officials from 161 countries from Asia, Africa, East Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean as well as Pacific and Small Island countries.

Since its inception in 1964, approximately 200,000 professionals from all over the globe have benefited from ITEC programme. In view of India’s exceptionally close relations with Oman, Government of India has offered 125 scholarships for Oman under the ITEC Programme for the period April 2019-March 2020. Over the years, ITEC Programme has received a good response and hundreds of Omani government officials have attended ITEC courses.

The ITEC Programme covers a diverse range of subjects from traditional areas like agriculture, SMES, management, English language to IT, Science & Technology, biotechnology and so on. The skills which are being provided under ITEC Programme facilitate human resource development, capacity building, skill upgradation and empowerment.

‘ITEC Day’ celebration is India’s annual endeavour to bring ITEC alumni together so that they can share their experiences and views on India with one another. In his remarks, Ambassador of India to the Sultanate of Oman, Munu Mahawar stated that the ITEC Programme was rooted in the Indian philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” which means that the whole world is one family. He stated that India will remain a strong partner in Oman’s journey towards economic diversification and its vision to become a knowledge economy and reiterated India’s commitment to strengthen and expand its strategic partnership with Oman, including in the field of training and skill development.

Ambassador Mahawar informed the guests regarding the launch of new modalities like E-ITEC and Itec-onsite by the Government of India and was elated to speak about the completely revamped ITEC programme this year with new partner institutions and the addition of special courses like artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, petroleum and forensic science which will be offered by top-notch institutions like IITS, IIMS and so on.