Indian Ambassador to the Philippines Shambhu Kumaran has revealed that more Philippine government employees are set to experience training courses that will equip them to do their governmental jobs in various fields through its Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC).

Ambassador Kumaran that since the ITEC was offered to Filipino government employees, about 1,100 Filipinos were served through the ITEC in a wide range of programs including Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Technologies, Audit, Engineering and Technology, Law Enforcement, Defense and Cooperation, Agriculture, Health and Yoga and various aspect of Government functioning, among others.

“These courses will help officials to improve their functioning when they come back to their respective countries. There were short and long courses given that were focused on professional competence,” the envoy told reporters on the sidelines of ITEC Day 2024 in Makati Shangri La on Thursday.

He said that in 2023, 40 employees were sent to India for the ITEC including officials of the Philippine National Police, Commission on Audit, and the Philippine Coast Guard, among others.

“We are targeting over 50 this year. There are 70 slots available for the Philippines, depending on the utilization of courses. The more the utilization, the greater number of slots will be allotted to countries,” he added.

ITEC delegates are chosen by the agencies of a particular government, which will be later on sent to India to study for one to two weeks, he said.

ITEC is a flagship program of the Government of India offering demand-driven and response-oriented training courses to public professionals from partner countries across the globe, including the Philippines.

Since 1964, ITEC has reached an estimated 300,000 participants from 160 partner countries.

“When we gained independence, we made it a point that we will share our capacities with the governments of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It brings a sense of solidarity among nations. Right now, we are looking at more specialized courses related to defense, Coast Guard, and national security, among others. We found that the PCG is very receptive to our courses, especially maritime operations and pollution control. We are seeing this as a capacity-building initiative,” Kumaran explained.

Representing the PCG in India was CG LTJG Lawrence Soriano, who thanked the Government of India for equipping him and a comrade on courses regarding maritime protection.

Defense training is another important strand of ITEC.

This covers specialized fields like maritime law, diving, aircraft and naval mechanics, artillery, among others, giving opportunities to defense officials from the Philippine Army, Philippine Navy, Philippine Air Force, and PCG.

For this fiscal year, after nearly 50 years, two Philippine Army officers joined the prestigious Pre-Commissioning Regular Course at the Indian Military Academy.

The Indian government maintained that capacity-building cooperation is an important strand of the development-oriented partnership between India and the Philippines.

Government departments and other public institutions are free to nominate their personnel for ITEC courses that are relevant to their development needs.

For Philippines participants, the program is fully funded by the Government of India including round-trip tickets, accommodation, and study tours.

This fiscal year (April 2023 - March 2024), ITEC training courses availed by nominations from various government agencies were related to Auditing, Leadership, Law Enforcement, Data Science and Analytics, Sericulture, and Oceanography.