Prof. Krzysztof Byrski, Padma Shri, renowned Sanskrit Professor;
ITEC alumni and ICCR Scholars, distinguished academics and Professors;
My young Polish friends who visited India under the Jamsaheb Memorial Youth Exchange Programme;
Friends,
Namaskar & Dobry wiecz?r!
The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme, ITEC for short, is the principal capacity building platform of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. The ITEC Programme was launched in 1964 and over decades, it has become India’s leading capacity building initiative which has trained more than 225,000 officials from over 160 countries in diverse sectors.
ITEC offers nearly 12,000 fully-funded in-person training opportunities through nearly 400 courses offered at more than a hundred eminent institutes in India every year. These courses provide training in public administration, English language skills, IT, accounts and auditing, nursing, diplomacy, military staff and technical training and many others.
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic affected the on-campus courses but this challenge motivated us to innovate and thereby introduce e-ITEC for online training programmes using digital delivery platforms. Several new initiatives include programmes such as ITEC-Executive which are short-term training programmes for senior government executives of partner countries focusing on policy issues.
Through the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, we also provide over a thousand scholarships annually in three-year undergraduate and two-year postgraduate degree programmes at Indian higher educational institutions. These educational opportunities with accompanying scholarships are offered across a wide range of faculties with diverse subjects including medical and technical education, pure science, humanities and in classical dance and music. And I am often delighted to witness the outcome of these initiatives when I enjoy the wonderful classical dance performances in Odissi, Kathak and Bharatnatyam at different venues across Poland by Polish artistes who have studies and trained in India.
Today, we are also joined by members of a Polish youth delegation that visited India under the Jamsaheb Memorial Youth Exchange Programme, an initiative which was announced by the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi during his historic visit to Poland in August 2024. Our young Polish friends visited the sites of Balachadi in Jamnagar, Gujarat and Valivade in Kolhapur, Maharashtra where several thousand Polish children and women were hosted by the Jamsaheb Dobry Maharaja and the royal family of Kolhapur. They also had memorable trips to the Gir National Sanctuary, Diu fort, Space Applications Centre of ISRO and IIT Delhi. And before their return home they also had interactions with Dr. S. Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister and attended a cultural reception with Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Youth Affairs & Sports Minister.
The ITEC and ICCR scholarships, the diplomats and civil servants that train in India and youth exchanges through initiatives such as the Jamsaheb Memorial Youth Exchange Programmes bring our peoples closer together and deepen our understanding of each other. These channels strengthen our people-to-people ties and bolster fraternal links between our countries.
I hope that your experiences in India were useful. I invite you to spread the word about the ITEC and ICCR opportunities among your colleagues and friends. I look forward to maintaining regular contact with all of you.
Tomorrow is Holi – the festival of colours which is celebrated in India and a few other countries across the world. We invite you to add a touch of colour on one another to conclude this year’s ITEC Day celebration.
I am delighted to welcome Dr. Jozef Zalewski, Director of the Asia Pacific Museum, Dr. Barbara Banasinska and her capable colleagues from the Museum today. They have curated an extra-ordinary exhibition of Madhubani paintings at the museum, drawn from a collection of 150 such paintings.
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