HCM CITY — More than 100 Vietnamese alumni of the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme from southern Việt Nam participated in the ITEC Day 2016 organised in the city on Dec 23.

The event, held by the Consulate General of India in HCM City, aims to “share the Indian development experience and expertise in its own quest for growth as a proud independent nation” with other developing countries, especially Việt Nam.

Smita Pant, Consul General of India, addressed the gathering and highlighted India’s commitment to overall development partnership with Việt Nam.

India’s commitments under the ITEC programme, which is fully funded by the Indian Government, have contributed to the capacity development in a wide range of areas, she said.

“India – Việt Nam developmental cooperation now has a wide focus with an emphasis on hydropower, agriculture and capacity building through ITEC in sectors such as IT, financial management, English proficiency, remote-sensing, agricultural research, quality standardisation, science and technology and green energy.”

“Our bilateral relationship will thus continue to flourish in all times to come,” she said.

She cited the Mekong Delta Rice Research Centre and the Southern Horticultural Research Institute as great examples of cooperation in capacity building in the Mekong Delta.

The event was attended by authorities from HCM City, Cần Thơ, Long An, Bình Phước and An Giang provinces as well as senior officials from the Southern Horticultural Research Institute and the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta Rice Research Institute.  

It was also attended by the president of the University of Social Science and Humanities, vice rectors of University of Training and Education, University of Trà Vinh and HCM City University of Technology and Education.

Initiated in 1964, the ITEC programme covers training courses and study tours in India for candidates from ITEC partner countries.

Currently, 150 ITEC scholarships are available for Việt Nam (50 administered by the Consulate), which cover a diverse spectrum of courses from IT to rural development, parliamentary practices to entrepreneurship, marine to aeronautical engineering, among others.

Full diplomatic relations between Việt Nam and India were established in 1972. The first Vietnamese candidates under the ITEC programme went to India in the 1970s. Over the years, hundreds of ITEC scholarships have been made available to Vietnamese scholars. — VNS