Embassy of India,
Harare, Zimbabwe

Speech on ITEC Day 11.11.2021

Hon’ble Minister for Finance and Economic Development Mthuli Ncube, 

Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Dr. Kupukile Mlambo, 

Senior Officers from our ITEC partner Ministries and institutions of Zimbabwe, 

Distinguished ITEC alumni,  

Members of the media, 

Ladies and Gentlemen, (All Protocols observed) 

It gives me a great pleasure to welcome you as we celebrate the Annual ITEC Day 2021.  It was in the year 1964 that the Indian Technical and Economic Assistance programme was instituted by the Government of India.  We celebrate this day with the aim of bringing together the ITEC Scholars, to be able to interact and reconnect with them and also to learn from their experience in India.   

Friends, the initiative taken at a time when India was newly Independent and had its own huge developmental requirements, has become one of the most sought after capacity building and human resource development initiatives over the past about six decades.  It is one of the finest examples of the South-South Cooperation and is based on the needs and priorities of our partner countries. 

It is our strong belief that strengthening and augmenting national capacities are essential for bringing progress and prosperity for our people.  Today, the ITEC programme proudly claims to have reached out to more than 200,000 beneficiaries in 160 partner countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean as well as Pacific and Small Island countries.  It is also indicative of the priority that India attaches to developmental cooperation in its foreign policy.   

Ladies and Gentlemen: 

With Zimbabwe, we have a long history of ITEC partnership.   Prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, over 200 civilian ITEC training slots were being provided to Zimbabwe annually.  Today, there are over 1200 ITEC alumni in Zimbabwe.  India is proud to have been associated with Zimbabwe in providing training in diverse fields including  environmental audit and sustainable development, women’s empowerment, human resource planning and development, health management, project management training and certification, remote sensing and digital image processing for geoscientists, labour standards etc.  We are proud of the contributions made by the ITEC alumni in institution-building and national development of Zimbabwe.   The ITEC training for the defence sector is also gaining traction.  From 4 slots in 2017, these have gone up to 21 slots in the current year 2021-22.   

The ITEC participants serve as a valuable bridge of goodwill and friendship between our two countries and our peoples. We would like their numbers to constantly grow.  

Ladies and Gentlemen: 

The Covid pandemic has also made us look at alternative training methods.  During the pandemic, a number of programmes were switched to online mode.  It is, thus, possible to also attain specialized knowledge through distance learning.    Many of our e-ITEC course have also been specifically tailored for issues relevant to different aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic management. 

We continue to invite our friends from Zimbabwe to take full advantage of these e-ITEC courses too.  We regularly post details of upcoming programmes on Embassy’s website and social media handles. We would also remain open to special courses customized to meet the specific request from Zimbabwe under the ITEC Programme. 

All of the above is also supplemented with the Vocational Training Centres and Indo-Zim Technology Centres established by the Government of India in Zimbabwe.  I must also mention that India is also undertaking South-South cooperation through a fund known as India-UN Development Partnership Fund  from which we have allocated US$ 1 Million this year for climate resilient agriculture, in the districts of Chiredzi and Mangwe in Zimbabwe.   

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

The ITEC, e-ITEC and all our other capacity building initiatives embody our belief that growth and prosperity of the world are indivisible and that India stands ready to play its part by sharing skills and technical expertise that it has acquired over decades of its developmental journey.  

I would once again like to thank all the Ministries and institutions of the Government of Zimbabwe who have partnered with us in making the ITEC programme a success story of our development partnership.  

I would like to invite Hon’ble Minister Mthuli Ncube to say a few words. 

Thank you!