Georgetown: The Government of Guyana has expressed its gratitude to the Indian Government for the contributions made in developing the capacity of Guyanese professionals in various fields.
For the past 30 years, the Government of India has been supporting Guyanese nationals by granting scholarships under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme. The programme was established in India in 1965 for bilateral assistance to developing countries. It aims at sharing the gains made by India in socio-economic fields and its technological advancements with partner countries.
On Monday, the Indian High Commission in Guyana celebrated ITEC Day at the Aagman Restaurant, where several Government officials were present along with ITEC alumni for a special luncheon.
Speaking at the event, High Commissioner Venkatachalam Mahalingam pointed out that while the feedback of the ITEC programme has been well received by Guyana, the country has not taken full advantage of the initiative.
“We would like to see a 100 per cent utilisation of the ITEC seats allotted to Guyana and the Caricom Secretariat as well as the two other countries. I would like to urge more nominations for these courses in a timely manner so as to use the complete quota of seats allotted to Guyana, Caricom, St Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda. I’m sure such utilisation of ITEC seats will go a long way in capacity building, institutional building and also in helping technological and economical advancement of our partners,” the Indian High Commissioner to Guyana said.
Mahalingam disclosed that more than 600 persons from Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, along with others from Caricom, have been trained under the programme thus far. He noted too that India has given technical assistance to some 36 countries in the Latin America, Caribbean, and Central America.
As it relates to Guyana, Mahalingam said that ITEC currently has an agriculture expert in the country who had done some work with the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) and was now working along with the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB).
Aspects of collaboration
The Indian High Commissioner further outlined that some of the other aspects of collaboration under the programme include project development, coconut production, legal drafting, telecast and telecommunication, agronomic services and disaster management.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sam Hinds expressed his gratitude to the Indian Government for its support through the ITEC programme. He noted that Guyana and Indian have shared a sound relationship mainly because of ancestral ties, adding that with initiatives such as the ITEC programme the relationship will continue to grow.
“We are pleased to have the support of ITEC from the very start, it’s very early years… ITEC has been a great benefit to us here in Guyana. We want to thank you too for flow of experts from India who have been coming here, not only in the area of agriculture but in my time, in the area of communication, we also had a gentleman who spent two years with us in our National Frequency Management Unit, so I want to commend this programme,” Hinds stated.
The Prime Minister went on to recognise that the ITEC programme not only educated but gave participants the opportunity to interact with nationals from other countries around the world.
Public Service Minister Jennifer Westford noted that the ITEC programme has allowed Guyanese in the Public Sector the opportunity to further develop themselves in their fields.
“We don’t have any sector within the Government that offers services which we don’t have persons that were trained in India and I must say that you have left an indelible mark on the Public Sector. We have learnt a lot and there have been lots of improvements. We’re hoping and we know we are going to continue to receive such assistance from you and we are going to be taking them up. I’m going to tell you that we have seen positive changes,” the Minister stated.
Westford also voiced her appreciation to the Indian Government for unswervingly ensuring over the years that Guyanese were given this opportunity. She noted that a recent review of the countries from whose training programmes Guyana benefited revealed that India was at the top of the list.
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