by Amal Nabil
The 51st anniversary of the ITEC programme was celebrated at the Embassy of India in Cairo, Egypt on 21 September 2015. The celebration was attended by Samia Hassan Kamal, representing the Ministry of International Cooperation, General Mohamed El-Keshky, assistant to Minister of Defense for Foreign Relations, and Magued Osman, president of the Egypt-India Friendship Association (EIFA), alumni of the ITEC Program from Egypt, defense officials who attended various training courses in India, and other officials of the government of Egypt and Egyptian nationals.
The celebration started with the inauguration of the “Tagore Hall”, in the newly renovated Chancery of the Embassy of India in memory of the great Indian poet, painter, revolutionary and Nobel laureate Mr. Rabindranath Tagore.
Ambassador Bhattacharyya welcomed the guests at the celebration, mentioning Tagore’s friendship with Egyptian poet Ahmed Shawky, adding that he is the only author who penned the national anthems of two nations: India and Bangladesh. The ambassador mentioned that the ITEC Day is organised every year to celebrate the association of India with her foreign friends with whom India shares a special bond. He also pointed to the other programmes of the government of India like the Commonwealth Program, the Colombo Plan, the CV Raman Fellowship and the ICCR Fellowship under which foreign nationals visit India to get trained in various special skills.
The ambassador briefed the guests about the ITEC programme under which every year 10,000 slots are available in 47 institutes of India, offering courses in 280 disciplines which include IT, public administration, auditing, elections, SMEs, entrepreneurship, rural development, parliamentary affairs, renewable energy, and postal management. Under the ITEC programme, fields like security, defense and counter-insurgency for defense personnel are offered by prestigious institutes in India, like the National Defense College and Defense Service Staff College. He welcomed the participation of the Egyptian Armed Forces at the ITEC Day event for the first time, and noted that a defense exchange is an area of growing cooperation. ITEC also covers deputation of Indian experts abroad, aid for disaster relief, study tours, feasibility studies, consultancy and other logistical support and that the programme covers 160 countries across the globe. The ambassador thanked the Ministry of International Cooperation and the Defense Ministry of Egypt for exchanges and promoting contacts. He added that India is proud of the ITEC alumni network across continents that are the torch-bearers for developing a powerful cultural bridge between India and their native countries. The ambassador mentioned that the 600 ITEC Alumni from Egypt have been serving as goodwill ambassadors for the strong and dynamic relationship between India and Egypt.
Mr. Magued Osman, president of the Egypt-India Friendship Association (EIFA), mentioned that the linkages between India and Egypt are not only cultural but also have many other commonalities and both countries face similar challenges. He added that both countries can learn from each other in facing these challenges. He praised India for promoting technology and mentioned that during his school days he read books by Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, one of the greatest Indian scientists and statisticians, as well as Mr. C. R Rao, an eminent Indian statistician. He also mentioned that Mr. Tagore continues to be an inspiring icon for youth.
ITEC Alumni Mr. Muhammad Salem and Dr. Said Abd-el-Tawab from the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and the Faculty of Regional and Urban Planning at Cairo University spoke about their experiences during the ITEC training programme in India. They mentioned the uniqueness of India and its linguistic and cultural diversity. They thanked the governments of India and Egypt for providing them with this opportunity.
The event was followed by the exhibition of paintings by Mr. Tagore and a Hindustani Sufi performance by Dr. Gurinder Harnam Singh and her troupe on the embassy lawns.
The ITEC Day served as a platform to bring together Egyptians to rekindle their warm experiences in India and to further strengthen the bonds between the people. The Facebook page on ITEC has seen a spurt in interest and serves as a medium for social exchanges.
