Press Release

Indian Embassy Celebrates Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Day’ 2019

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Embassy of India
Muscat
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Press Release
Indian Embassy Celebrates Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Day’ 2019

The Embassy of India, Muscat, celebrated the 55th anniversary of the  Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Day on Wednesday, 09th October 2019 at its premises. His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Omar Al Marhoon, Minister of Civil Service was the Chief Guest of the event. The event was attended by a number of senior officials from various Ministries and institutions of the Sultanate of 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.

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 state-of-art institutions of learning & 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, etc. 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 endeavor to bring ITEC alumni together so that they can share their experiences and views on India with one another. The ITEC Day provided an opportunity to the ITEC Alumni, who have been trained in India under this Programme, to get-together at the Embassy to interact among themselves and learn from their experiences. ITEC Alumni were invited to speak and share their experience of training under the ITEC Programme in India. They spoke about the benefits of ITEC courses not only in providing knowledge and expertise but in giving them an opportunity to interact with trainees from other countries and learn more about India and its culture and traditions.

In his remarks, Ambassador of India to the Sultanate of Oman, Shri MunuMahawar stated that the ITEC Programme was rooted in the Indian philosophy of “VasudhaivaKutumbakam” which means that the whole world is one family. He thanked the Chief Guest for his invaluable contribution in the successful implementation of ITEC programme between India and Oman. Ambassador also expressed sincere gratitude towards the Ministries of Civil Service and Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman for their efforts in encouraging officials from all relevant departments of the Government of Oman to participate in the programme.  Ambassador further 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 informed the distinguished 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 etc.

Muscat, 10th October 2019