Mar 22, Kathmandu- Embassy of India, Kathmandu celebrated the 60th Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Day on 21 March 2025. Several Members of Parliament, senior Government officials, ITEC alumni and prominent Nepalese alumni of academic institutions from India attended ITEC Day celebrations. Foreign Minister of Nepal Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. 

The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme or popularly known as ITEC, is the leading capacity building platform of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.  Instituted in 1964, ITEC is one of the oldest institutionalized arrangements for international capacity building having trained more than 200,000 officials from over 160 countries.  Building on India's vast and rich network of governance and development-related expertise available in higher educational institutions and training facilities, ITEC offers nearly 10,000 fully-funded in-person training opportunities through nearly 400 courses at 100+ eminent institutes in India each year. 

Attorney General Ramesh Badal and ITEC alumni Brig. Gen. Pawan Khatri, Joint Coordinator, National Security Council Secretariat and Mr. Dayaram Sharma, Superintendent, Armed Police Force shared their experiences and insights about the ITEC during the event. The celebration also included an enthralling Mayurbhanj Chau dance performance by an Indian Council for Cultural Relations supported cultural troupe ‘Yagna’ from India led by renowned artist Kuleshwar Kumar Thakur and mesmerizing instrumental folk fusion and jazz by the renowned Kanta Dab Dab band of Nepal.

Foreign Minister of Nepal, Dr. Arzu Rana Deuba, fondly recalled her experience of studying in India and expressed gratitude to the Government of India for its numerous initiatives in the fields of development and education. In his remarks, Ambassador of India to Nepal, Shri Naveen Srivastava expressed commitment to expand the ITEC initiative further and introduce more customized programmes in line with the evolving priorities of the Government of Nepal.

In the year 2024-2025, 510 professionals from Nepal were trained in different courses in various prominent institutes of India. 21 Engineers of Government of Nepal are enrolled in two-year M.Tech. course in streams such as Water Resource Management, Hydrology, Irrigation Water Management etc. at IIT Roorkee.  18 customized courses were organized for Doctors (50); Government Attorneys (30); members of National Judicial Academy of Nepal (15), Nepal Police (143); Armed Police Force (80); Ministry of Home Affairs (24); Ministry of Water Supply (40) in 10 prominent institutes of India in 2024-2025. 

Nepal, being a close and friendly neighbour is an active partner in the ITEC initiative of the Government of India. In the past 15 years alone, more than 3,000 officials from Nepal have been trained under ITEC. These capacity building programmes form a part of India’s effort to not only support human resource development of Nepal and partner countries, but also to learn from their experiences so as to contribute to the overall socio-economic benefit of the region.