The Consulate General of India, Hambantota, organized ITEC Day 2019 on 15 Oct in Galle. Consul General, Prem K. Nair, hosted a reception at the Jetwing Hotel for the ITEC alumni from Southern Province & Monaragala District, who had availed ITEC training in India after the establishment of the Consulate in 2011. H.E. Mr. Hemal Gunasekara, Hon'ble Governor, Southern Province, Senior Officials & 70 ITEC alumni attended the function. Alumni reminisced about their pleasant experience of training in India, how it helped them grow professionally and network with new friends of different nationalities. The event provides an opportunity to meet, interact, share and relive their experience in India.
157 Officials from the districts of Galle, Matara, Hambantota & Monaragala have trained in India under ITEC since the inception of the Indian Consulate in Hambantota -104 of these have happened in the last 3 years alone. The training courses availed were in diverse disciplines like Rural development, employment generation, sustainable development, women empowerment, Library management, SME/MSMEs, English, IT, Governance, Management etc. The Consulate renders all possible assistance to sustain this growing interest.
The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme was launched on 15 September 1964 as a bilateral programme of assistance of the Government of India and this day is celebrated as the ITEC day each year. ITEC has been a vehicle to share India's vast and unique experience of growth and development through capacity building and training of more than 200,000 government officials and professionals from 160 partner countries of the Global South in premier institutes of India. Over 12,000 slots are offered to the partner countries in a vast range of courses, covering fields as diverse as English, IT, Telecommunications, Rural development, Instrumentation, remote sensing, tool design, audit, accounts, finance & accountancy, banking, renewable energy, crime investigation, rural development, management, etc. The ITEC capacity building programmes continues to be one of India’s most successful development assistance programmes abroad.
