ITEC program strengthens Phl-India relations
The embassy of India recently commemorated the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Day 2019 at India House Manila, honoring recent graduates of the ITEC program.
India Ambassador Jaideep Mazumdar led the function along with his wife Parvati Mazumdar, former foreign affairs secretary and ambassador Delia Albert, National Defense College of the Philippines VP for academics Teresita Atienza, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) executive director Sonia Lipio, Indian embassy First Secretary for Politics and Culture and ITEC officer-in-charge Nidhi Choudhary, and other prominent personalities.
Established in 1964, ITEC is an Indian external development assistance program aimed to share the country’s socio-economic development and technological achievement with 160 developing countries, including the Philippines.
With training as one of its main components, several Filipinos were among the 14,000 delegates who have been granted an all-expense paid scholarship in leading educational institutions in India.
ITEC also covers capacity building programs, grant assistance, technical consultancy, disaster relief and humanitarian aid credit, short-term civilian and military training courses.
During the function, the scholars highlighted their educational and cultural experience in India, focusing on how it has helped them to grow personally and professionally.
“It opens a different perspective when you visit other places. When you go there, you’ll know that people are very warm and accommodating. The culture and sites are very evident everywhere you go,” ITEC 2019-2020 alumnus and Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) investment banker Jose Ray Salvatierra said.
“We took up the International Program on Asset-Liability and Management (ALM) in Banks and Finance Institutions. We can apply firsthand the basics and strategies shared with us by the professors, who are respected in our industry,” ITEC scholar and Land Bank of the Philippines ALM officer Aprilyn Espere said, elaborating the advantages of her learning experience.
“They offered technical training, which is not yet available in the Philippines. Fortunately, ALM complements market risk management because as a manager in the middle office of the bank, I was able to understand the ALM in the front office,” ITEC scholar and DBP market risk manager Carla Capuno shared.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Mazumdar said that the partnership forges the ties not only between the governments of the Philippines and India, but also its people.
With three consecutive visits of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian President Ram Nath Kovind to the Philippines, and President Rodrigo Duterte to India, the partnership between the two countries looks bright and is expected to improve further.
“The people-to-people relations are one of the biggest foundation stones of every relationship. The young people who go to India come home as ambassadors of India in the Philippines. They speak about India, make friends there and keep in touch with them. They may be investing their time and learning a skill, but it’s also, for us, an investment in relations between people,” Mazumdar said.