Africa-Press – Eswatini. About 35 Emaswati who were in study tours to India say the country has a lot of technology to teach Eswatini.
It was the main message passed by various alumni of the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme at the United Nations (UN) building in Mbabane on Friday, that India is growing at a fast pace, especially in information communication and technology, medicine and other industries.
Of the 35 ITEC programme alumni selected from prominent institutions, such as Zweli Vilakati, who is an Information Systems officer from the Auditor General’s office, His Majesty’s Correctional Services (HMCS) Assistant Superintendent Clifford Ngomane and Tengetile Dludlu from HMCS shared their experiences of visiting India.
Vilakati said India taught him how the country could enhance its e-governance platform. He said he got exposed to block chain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) studies which were eye-opening.
The event was attended by Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) Commander Lieutenant General Hulumende Mashikilisane Fakudze, Auditor General Timothy Matsebula, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sizwe Ntshangase and the host, the High Commissioner of India Ram Prasad, among others.
Dludlu from HMCS said she was rubbing shoulders with judges from other countries. She said she was there for a period of two weeks from March this year, where she was involved in a public administration for gender responsive governance programme.
She said during her stay, she was taught the Indian way of addressing gender issues, which was eye-opening. She said the Indian government had a gender mainstreaming and sensitive budgeting approaches which she said simplified the way of life of Indians especially in the target on meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dludlu and others added that they had a chance to visit the Taj Mahal and marvelled at the monument.
The assistant superintendent added that Indians had humility and loved their visitors, often offering them tea or water.
benefitted
“They are always there. They ask you how they can assist you and they respect human rights,” she said.
When the host, the High Commissioner of India, Prasad and the PS in the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ntshangase made speeches during the ITEC Day, they gave the impression that the countries’ diplomatic relations were secure. Prasad said although the event was the 59th ITEC Day, it was one of the few Eswatini benefitted from since India set up its High Commission offices in 2019.
Prasad said so far more than 350 Emaswati had flown to that country through ITEC.
ITEC had three components.
The first one was training of civilian and defence in India of nominees from ITEC partner countries. Secondly it was the deputation of Indian experts abroad.
Lastly, there were study tours. Prasad said the security agencies, including Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS), along with the UEDF and HMCS participated, besides various government departments.
Prasad said in the current training year, in addition to the annual allocation of 50 civilian ITEC training slots, the government of India had also allocated 15 defence training slots for Eswatini.
Prasad said the ITCE programme was based on voluntary cooperation, free from conditionalities and national ownership aligned with priorities of the partner country, adding that ITEC’s objective was sharing knowledge and skills with fellow developing countries.
“Today’s event is part of India’s engagement with Africa in general and the Kingdom of Eswatini in particular. The guiding principles of this are solidarity, mutual respect and the spirit of sharing,” he said.
Prasad said India was in a drive to merge available resources with skills to achieve prosperity and foster collaboration and knowledge exchange among nations. Ntshangase said Eswatini had profound and sincere gratitude to the government of India.
“Through the Ministry of External Affairs for considering Emaswati as recipients of the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC), this cooperation indeed signifies the warm and cordial relations between our two Nations.
“A number of Emaswati in both civilian and defence sectors have significantly benefitted from capacity-building courses in Indian Institutes of higher learning across various disciplines.
The knowledge and skills acquired from India’s extensive network of governance and development-related expertise had not only enhanced their career development, but also help to contribute to improved standards and quality of work in their respective fields,” Ntshangase said.
The PS said India responded positively to the country-specific requests for training in specific governance areas.He said India organised customised programmes, especially in information technology development.
“We take this opportunity to call for enhanced future bilateral cooperation with the Royal Science Technology Park (RSTP) in the Kingdom. Moreover, we extend our appreciation on programmes provided in enabling the infrastructure and conducive operating environment for Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),” Ntshangase said.
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