India celebrates 50 years of technical and economic cooperation with its partners |17 November 2014

In 1964 India initiated a programme to provide capacity-building to other developing countries. The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (Itec) is 50 years old this year.

To mark the occasion on Itec Day, the Indian high commissioner to Seychelles Sanjay Panda, on Friday evening organised a gathering at India House, Au Cap.
It brought together the Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Paul Adam, key government and defence forces officials, all beneficiaries of the Itec programmes, as well as other guests and friends of India.   

During the evening guests were able to view videos retracing some of the achievements and successes of the Itec programme.
Addressing guests at the event Mr Panda said “the Itec programme is the flagship capacity-building programme of the government of India which has trained thousands of foreign officials in India every year”.

“It has been the most important vehicle for sharing our knowledge, skills and expertise with the rest of the world,” Mr Panda said.
Mr Panda noted that last year over 10,000 Itech scholarships were offered to 161 partner countries.

He also highlighted the fact that India’s assistance to other developing countries in the area of capacity building even pre-dates India’s emergence as an independent nation as it was way back in 1949 when the first batch of 75 fellowship students came to study in India.

“The number has continued to grow in the following years and the scholarship programme continued to enlarge and expand until Itec was born in 1964.

“Today the Itec is synonymous with cooperation and partnership for mutual benefits. It is response -oriented and it addresses the needs of developing countries,” Mr Panda  pointed out.

“Thanks to Itec, there is now a visible and growing awareness about the competence of India as a provider of technical know-how and expertise.

Mr Panda said India is committed to ensuring continuous and sustained interaction with the government of Seychelles in identifying new areas of human resource and infrastructure development.

“To date about 1000 Seychellois professionals have benefitted from the Itec programmes,” Mr Panda said.
For his part Minister Adam said the Itech programme is today an exemplary illustration of south-south cooperation.

He commended the Indian high commission for taking the initiative every year to bring together all those who have benefitted from the Itech courses over the years.

“What is more commendable is India’s willingness to share its achievements and knowledge with the rest of the world,” Minister Adam pointed out.
He further noted that such an occasion every year also “represents an opportunity for all of us to celebrate the unique friendship which India and Seychelles share, a friendship built on shared values”.

Minister Adam took the opportunity to express “profound gratitude to the Indian government for the support extended to our country over the years in its quest to give the very best to the Seychellois people”.

The Itech has been focused on addressing the needs of developing countries and has enabled many countries including Small Island Developing States (Sids) like Seychelles to link up with Indian institutions with expertise and of international standing.

Furthermore Minister Adam pointed out that the Sids summit in Samoa in September and last week’s Aosis meeting held here have shown very clearly that the need for cooperation between nations is more relevant than ever as the international community continues to be tested by many challenges.

It is to be noted that through the Itech programme Seychelles has benefitted from training for numerous government officials from different sectors, training of our military personnel and the deputation of numerous Indian experts in various fields such as finance, health, education defence to name but some.

Minister Adam and Mr Panda then proposed a toast to the long lasting friendship and strong partnership between Seychelles and India.