 Haji Palli is a small village in the southern Indian state of Telangana. This model village today is a buzz with activity as it welcomes guests from far away lands. Walking in its biolanes are people from an amazing number of countries. Libya, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Tanzania, Iran, Tunisia, Bhutan, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Jordan, Nigeria, Sudan and Vietnam are all represented here in Haji Palli today. Inside the village school, language is no barrier to communication quite clearly. As the school children in their honor sing poems in Telugu, the local language, Francis from Ghana happily sings along while the others observe intently. Why? You may ask. How? You may want to know. Whatever for? You may even inquire. You must mention that the technological acumen here is of great importance. It's very high. It will surely benefit me and definitely benefit my country. I actually came here to improve my specialty on oil flow, measurement and calibration. When I started reading the information, I really, really wanted to come here. I've been selected from the Mauritius Police Force to attend the admins, fingerprints, science. I'm proud that I have performed my MTech from IIT Roorkee. I get to know that there is an ITICS scholarship for the whole Sudanese officers and I was very lucky to apply and got the chance to make the interview and finally here doing my MTech at IIT Roorkee. Well, these young men and women belong to a multitude of professionals who visit India year after year. They come from 161 countries to share India's experience of development under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Program or ITEC. Coming here, I have seen that the Indian government will have been opted that I wouldn't waste my money to train other people because there are people in India who still need these small monies but the Indian government has said that no, let us go and bring people from outside and come and train them. It's a very wonderful recommendation I would do anywhere I get a platform. ITEC No Doubt is a unique endeavor. However, it is only one strand of India's Developmental Cooperation Initiative. Extension of concessional lines of credit, assistance to help build infrastructure, humanitarian support and relief when disaster strikes, deputation of experts and provision of consultancy services on request, complete India's Bokeh of Assistance. Importantly, India's Development Cooperation Program is firmly rooted in the belief that the best way forward for developing nations is to learn from one another's experience and to grow together. This indeed is the best way to embark on the developmental journey. When we started in 1964, the philosophy was to be responsive to the needs of other countries, to be open to sharing experiences and to trying to work with a sense of solidarity with other developing countries. Perhaps the sense of solidarity is natural because of a shared struggle against colonialism. In fact, even as a newly independent nation realizing the importance of South-South cooperation, India, along with others, had sought to create a new world order, which would counter the stark dichotomies inherent in the North-South model of development. A world order in which all nations of the world would develop involuntary partnerships based on mutual trust and dignity. A well-established truism which holds good till today. It was to provide a framework for doing so optimally that on 15th of September 1964, the then Indian Cabinet formally announced the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Program. And after 50 years today, its global footprint and impact on building national capacities is keenly apparent. In fact, I have to say this. I'm very much appreciative of what the Indian Government has done, has done and is doing regarding imparting knowledge and experience to friendly countries because it's not because India is the richest country or it's not because they have nothing else to do with their money, but it has been a very good gesture. And I happen to think that the experience of India is very relevant to the Ethiopian way of development because India started from humble backgrounds and has gone quite far now. India has implemented a number of projects in infrastructure, hydroelectricity, power transmission, agriculture, industry, education and health, notably in the neighborhood and other regions of the world including Africa, Latin America, South Asia and the Gulf region. Actually, we have many common issues, particularly in the developing world. It goes beyond just India's understanding. It's a mutual interchange of ideas, of experiences, so it enriches both the nations. Equally importantly, India's Development Cooperation Program is an expression of India's commitment to share her expertise, learning and resources to help build national capacities of other countries traversing the same developmental pathways. Nobody runs in one day. Nobody runs in one week. No way. Yes, no doubt. No one learns in a day. And India too is still learning each day how to cope with the unique challenges she faces as a nation, but there too lie many are learning. They have the courage to succeed and to achieve their dreams and to improve their situations and to be educated. It's an example to be followed by the other villages in our countries. I learned about the planning of rural areas, especially from the village people. People living in Afghanistan are so poor, so I could understand from here and to plan for them for good development projects for them. Interestingly, each and every participant in the IITEC courses comes from a different nation, a diverse background and also professions. However, they all seem to be familiar with one aspect of India for sure. I really do enjoy now Bollywood movies. Because I've been a fan of Indian movies. We used to know other men since we met a budget. Imagine the delight of the IITEC trainees at Seedak Mohali when they were invited to act in a Punjabi film. But on a more serious note, what is common to all the participants is their desire for knowledge and learning to upgrade existing skills and learn new ones. Actually no, but I had the passion of knowing. Because I want to enhance my English. One aspect is the use of the biogas that we've learnt. It's simple technology. We can be used in our various villages to improve their lifestyle. Perhaps the opportunity to learn hands-on that these courses provide are what increased their value for the participants. We are lucky we came here to this election here in India. So we visit some centres, see the photo, I see the machine, how it works, what they are doing. It's really interesting. Actually there were many things that I liked about IITEC programs. But maybe the best thing I liked was that being an interactive learning experience and being in very international and diverse environments. That's really very unique about IITEC programs. Whatever they learn in India is however not limited only to further their individual careers but is a means to contribute to their societies in a purposeful manner. In this course I think I will catch more things, more experience from here to carry out it in my country and to do it in my poor people in the rural area. And what we have learnt here is really appropriate what I'm doing here. So the chance that I've got to improve my knowledge in many aspects. I think it will benefit us and we work for the people of the subcontinent. Not only for the country, Bangladesh, it will benefit us to work for the people of the area also. For most newly emerging nations to achieve economic growth and independent decision making seems to be a tall order under any circumstances. And India from experience learnt that national sovereignty and integrity are an imperative for achieving both. Therefore, unlike most nations, India willingly trained personnel from friendly nations in matters of defence. I'm very grateful to the government of India for this exchange program because without it definitely we wouldn't be advanced or we wouldn't copy what we are supposed to copy like what I'm doing here now. Which in turn would not only enable them to strengthen their national boundaries but also achieve developmental goals. I'm Squadron leader Marzia from Bangladesh Air Force. The instructors in AFTC, they are really friendly and it will help me in my professional ground after completing this course. To build capacities which could help safeguard national sovereignty in times of peace and war have been an important component of India's development initiative all along. I think ITEC is a very good platform not only to learn from each other but also to establish people-to-people contact. India on her side without hesitation opens the doors to some of her best and finest institutions for all of those seeking to upgrade their knowledge and skills. Really it's a very favourable place for studying very environmentally friendly places for study specifically this institute Roki where the prestigious one. Perhaps the circumstances under which India's development partnerships with other nations were born lend them its uniqueness. The diversity of initiatives which are offered by India for assistance in terms of structure and content are unparalleled quite simply because they reflect a range of development needs of many countries which articulate their needs for assistance from India. I think India is competent to hold such ITEC programs and from my experience I found out that India Government is very selective when choosing the institute that will participate or hosting people for ITEC programs and it's really an old sharing it's really an effective mechanism for non-sharing between India and other developing countries. It is not just what they learn but also how they learn is what is important for the participants course after course year after year. I heard that the English and foreign language university is one of the recognized universities in this region and as well as in the world for developing English professions in methodological way. That's good. A university is known for its expertise in the area of language teaching and therefore they are well equipped to train nationals from any country and what they do is they modulate the courses every year for every program based on the learner's needs so it's a need based kind of a course. The teachers are very good at teaching and if I serve as an officer in my category and I will not have this chance this is the chance that I got to learn English. Apart from the regular courses participating countries also benefit immensely from the specialized courses offered which are tailor made to suit their requirements. All these help their officials upgrade skills helping them reach globally accepted standards in their own fields. The training that they have given me have opened my eyes to the possibilities of cyber access, hacking they teach you a lot of information that you would not get in the Caribbean or I have not gotten a chance to really come to know these things that I've taught here. Actually I have learned a lot, I have learned a lot. As a network administrator I didn't know about cryptography I didn't know about even firewalls I'm seeing firewalls in my windows or something but I used to turn it off. India's plurality and multiculturalism just add myriad dimensions to her status as the world's largest democracy. As every Indian eligible to vote, votes freely India is only too happy to give others free lessons in democracy. The election commission of the India and the ITEC has done a very big task to other countries to educate people like us. Actually I was so amazed by this experience I didn't know that you were that developed on many levels on the IT level maybe the voting machine is the first time we still use ballots so I was amazed by this by the high level of democracy of transparency you have your people are civilized voters no problems, no disputes I was so amazed by this experience. All these few skills, knowledge and experience that we have it's at the disposal of the world so one of the organized connectivity to share what we have and to help build others capacity if they want is the ITEC course. It was really an appreciable thing that most of the participants were African countries so the Indian commitment to capacity the African parliament to make them to be in a similar row or in a similar line to be too strong than the parliamentary function is really an appreciable commitment it helped the parliamentarian to understand better to have better knowledge and the skill to implement in irrespective countries as the whole world faces environmental challenges it becomes even more important for developing countries to find optimal ways to ensure that the aspirations of their people are met while at the same time the available resources are used in a prudent manner and therefore India freely shares knowledge gathered in energy access and equity and use of water resources with other developing nations to help them meet the development versus environment challenge effectively This Rurki University previously it's a very well known university and it has been established by British only for the irrigation system so it's a very nice thing to get up what they are having here from the Indian mentalities and applied in my country Sudan which ultimately is the very essence of South-South cooperation to share experiences for equitable development India's expertise in IT related fields is far too well known across the world and therefore obviously in great demand not only has India helped set up many centres of excellence including the Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in ICT in Ghana the India Tanzania Centre for Excellence in ICT at Dar es Salaam and the India-Vietnam Advanced Resource Centre in ICT at Hanoi India also offers scholarships to many participants for undergoing similar courses in India as well As the participants learn to create their own virtual realities it's not just the techniques but also the intricacies of the craft which are acquired alongside I am in the web design technology and as I have learned many things about the web design technology I got that experience and the confidence that I will be able to make world-class websites with the help of this course I work with these subjects before I work in the university and the Agahan school and there I use it but now here I learn new for example before I used HTML4 now here I learn HTML5 It is the flexibility of India's Development Cooperation Program which constantly allows for innovation and endeavors to meet the requirements of partner countries to satisfy their expectations and so even as ICT turned 50 this year it continues to attract an increasing number of participants to India such as these first-timers from Rwanda who came to learn some very specialized skills very aptly they are learning about making fragrances in a part of India which has been producing them since the time of the Mahabharat Actually this training is based on upgrading entrepreneurship in the youth of Rwanda and through this training we've learnt a lot right from cultivation, processing, managerial status and up to the level of entrepreneurship so I look forward to use the knowledge I got here to enhance entrepreneurship in Rwanda We are training them for the management skills, soft skills entrepreneurial aspect so that the moment they go back these 19 Rwandans should emerge as the Indian Fragment Ambassador in Rwanda A new world order would surely require a new breed of leaders and managers and for developing nations it becomes imperative no doubt to have trained decision makers The most complex principles of management amazingly can be learnt quite simply almost like child's play or so it would seem We have a lot of participation, proactive learning methodologies it is not a one-way learning, it is a give and take they are talking about leadership skills they are talking about inner governance they are talking about ethics and values in the leadership styles they are talking about various aspects of financial management also There is a lot of focus on leadership and management of the team of the projects as well that's why I believe that this will really help me to improve the way I work Be it enhancing spoken English skills or learning about fragrances as new skills acquired build their confidence no gold seems out of reach In the future yes I am aspiring to be if not even the Director General in charge of the CID headquarters then one of the top most so I am very interested to become a very good manager in the near future Another chance to improve my knowledge so that I can create my own company about the essential oils or the fragrance or the fragrance I was like recently appointed to General Manager and actually when I took the course I was a Senior Economist so it has helped me a lot in my career For participants who come to India or experts who go out of India to other nations it is no surprise that the cultural dialogue and the social interaction fostered creates lifelong bonds The teachers are good, they know how to pass their knowledge they are high skilled I have formed a Facebook group and I am the admin of that group and we still keep in touch, we talk we exchange a lot of family events and occasions and like a lot of Indian celebrations we keep in touch through that and one of the trainer actually is one of my friends on Facebook and I still keep in touch with her I will call my trainers my mother my father my brother, my sister they are definitely loving people I don't have anything bad to say about these people that have changed me for the past five weeks Perhaps the most unique aspect of India's Development Cooperation Program is that the learning is at various levels be it mastering the intricacies of yoga ascents I don't remember many good memories about India but maybe yoga classes were the most thing I still remember now because that was the very first time to have an intensive course for every day, every morning about yoga classes with a professional yoga trainer so it's something I still remember Or then savouring the many flavours of chat unfamiliar yet tantalising on the taste buds Foods are a bit spicy but I like them I like also in India I like Indian foods but especially vegetarian foods I feel that I am in my home and I have taken all the foods and this is very good for me Nor is it only about getting to eat Indian food for the first time but also an opportunity for cooking your own national food for your batch mates and introducing them to the flavours of your unique cuisine Some of the participants from Iraq they cut salad they said that they are very fond of the salad Oman participants they prepare the barbeque and then it was a gathering of around 15 or 20 odd ITEC participants they and that was my batch in 2002 which made me emotionally attached to each and every participant Not to forget the time a football match was played with a unique team comprising of players each one of whom was from a different country No we put things together and we definitely had a good game Right now I am sweating here but very happy So obviously it's not restricted to learning work skills or about getting to know India better but much beyond India in fact becomes a gateway for many of the participants to meet people from so many countries of the world at the same time, at the same place for the first time in their lives to live and learn with people from so many nations is not only a rare opportunity but also an education in itself Well of course with all those friends from 90 countries it's not like of course being in India is one aspect but to get the opportunity to be together with them as if like we've been to all those 90 countries different countries, their cultures it can be clearly seen the way they put on their dress the way they talk, how we share things together so I think it is amazing In this program we have given a lot of opportunities to exchange our ideas with other students those who came from different countries The maturity level has gone I've come together to see different views of people and I mean you would not say that everybody has the personality you have people with different personalities because we have different minds we come from different backgrounds but through it all we have gained the maturity the understanding that we can be as a team we can be as a group that will come together to make this a good experience The most interesting aspect of interacting with participants from different parts of the world is that you understand that while there are a lot of differences in terms of culture, in language, food at the end of the day we are all human beings and we like the same things In these times when we frequently find communities and countries in conflict India's development cooperation initiatives are helping create an environment conducive for international cooperation and understanding And I think it's a very good starting point for peace creation in the world because the more you learn about your brother you know his differences then you can live with peace And also it's not only the Indian experience but the experience among different countries as we were in 23 countries it was an important commitment to make those parliamentary groups to come together and to share experience on how each of the countries are working We are in touch with my classmates from different countries and different cultures from Argentina, Brazil, Sri Lanka, India and also Latin American countries One of the most striking features of this that there are actually bridges of actual personal experience that are created and I think that is as valuable an asset as we have And the learning never stops Even as they leave their classrooms the entire country seems to become a classroom for them The colours, sights, sounds smells and foods of India her culture and diversity her history and monuments they all seem to teach them something So 50 in the classroom, 50 outside So I'm going home with 100%, about 98% We always hear about the Taj Mahal for example but we didn't know there were many other different places which are beautiful as Taj Mahal also We went to Gwalior, it was amazing the Red Fort, everything we saw was amazing I didn't expect India to be like that It's a very beautiful country With each developmental milestone achieved India obviously has more to share I think India is in the position for this knowledge transfer for this technology transfer Perhaps a perfect example is when just after the success of her green revolution India helped set up a rice research institute in southern Vietnam assisting Vietnam to become a major exporter of rice in the world today We share common problems where economies are at similar levels or people also experience similar problems whereas the western world is a different world where they have nothing much to compare whereas India has gone through this cycle of development we are ahead So the developing world would like to emulate India rather than the western world It is indeed amazing what dimensions this cooperation has acquired over the years What began as 70 scholarships for students from neighboring countries today has a global footprint and reach Our main concern is technical exchanges and mutual support and south-south cooperation is something on which we are strongly there It's not as though India is a perfect country but then we can learn from them they can learn from us The substantial growth in India's external development assistance program in the past few years has resulted in an ever larger number of projects and countries getting covered under its ambit It has also resulted in a felt need to more effectively handle India's projects right from the policy formulation stage through the implementation, handing over and monitoring in close cooperation with the partner countries of the projects In January 2012 to streamline the delivery and effectiveness of India's external development assistance the Development Partnership Administration was established in the Ministry of External Affairs to effectively handle India's development assistance program and to build in-house technical, financial and legal expertise required for effective project implementation A small hub in the Ministry of External Affairs the Development Partnership Administration ensures that all these diverse strands of developmental assistance extended by India are expeditiously implemented We don't believe that we are like a donor which we are supposed to give out something to other countries But in a South-South cooperation the idea is mutual benefit and mutual learning too And as India gives she too receives an abundance She too is enriched with the unconditional love she is given Because I'm falling in love with India I really want to come back and do my master's here Every person in the world should visit India once in his life I wish, I wish if I had the opportunity I would come, I would come because learning there's no end I intend to be back to India another once time again once again At least at most 100 times if the chance permits I bring thousands of my colleagues to come and learn so that we can develop our country back up This is the most valuable thing which we acquire and that is the friendship of foreign participants Perhaps which is why lessons learnt with friends are so special They envelop you not only in knowledge but in love and bonomy They have the ability to empower illiterate poor grandmothers with solar electrification technology to light up their homes and lives They help build roads to prosperity They enable young professionals with new skills to help them translate their aspirations for a better life into reality But most importantly they help build bridges which transcend distances of language, colour, creed and nationality Helping one to understand, accept and celebrate the other as a friend forevermore Thank you