Despite being a developing country itself, India has built an enviable track record for promoting South-South cooperation and creating development partnerships in countries around Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Carribean. The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (I.T.E.C.) programme is run by the Ministry of External Affairs and provides training annually to thousands of individuals in disciplines ranging from I.T. and Communication to Rural Development. The Foreign Service Institute of the Ministry of External Affairs runs regular Professional Courses for Foreign Diplomats. Recent batches include a group of 21 young diplomats from Afghanistan,a multinational group of 21 diplomats for the 49th Professional Course for Foreign Diplomats (PCFD) and 13 diplomats from Indian Ocean Rim Association of Regional Cooperation (I.O.R.A.R.C.) countries. The Indian Council of Cultural Relations (I.C.C.R.) provides Scholarships for Undergraduate, Graduate and PhD students. It runs an active Distinguished Visitors Programme and manages an extensive programme of cultural exchanges. The EXIM Bank of India disburses grants, soft loans and lines of credit to promote development projects in a number of countries. These have helped create infrastructure in railways, power generation and transmission, irrigation etc, set up capacity building institutions such as IT parks and training centres, foster growth of small and medium enterprises and much else.

Blossoming of the Asian Dream The ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit fleshed out an ambitious overarching vision of an Asian century
Productive Dialogue External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna’s visit to Pakistan
Unfurling the Asian Dream Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Cambodia has set the stage for the first-ever commemorative summit India
India hosted the Delhi Investment Summit on Afghanistan India hosted the Delhi Investment Summit on Afghanistan to promote economic rejuvenation and stability
Passage for Connectivity The Northeastern state of Manipur, called the ‘Jewel of India’ by Jawaharlal Nehru, played host last month to an international conference
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