Indian Technical Economic Cooperation (ITEC) is a visible symbol of India's role and contribution to South-South cooperation. Under ITEC, initially there were only capacity building programmes, but now the scope of ITEC has been extended to projects, consultancy services, deputation of Indian experts, study tours, donation of scientific equipment and aid for disaster relief. Under ITEC programme, as of now, 161 countries are invited to share India’s developmental experience achieved in last 60 years. With more than 12,000 scholarships each year, there are currently 47 empaneled institutions conducting 300 short -term, medium -term and long - term courses every year in a wide and diverse range of skills and disciplines.
ITEC Day is celebrated every year to bring all ITEC Alumni together and to know about their experiences in India. Apart from ITEC, beneficiaries of ICCR Scholarships and Pan Africa e-Network also participated on 8 March at the residential lawns of the Ambassador of India.
This year 2016-17 is a remarkable year as the number of slots for the ITEC scholarships has been increased to 200 from 150 in previous years. Besides, we have been offering large number of specialized training courses, such as, medical, highways, petroleum, solar etc., under Indian Africa Forum Summit.
40% of our ITEC beneficiaries are women and it was coincidental that ITEC day was celebrated on International Women’s Day.
The demand for ITEC courses has been increasing phenomenally in Sudan, not only from Khartoum but candidates from Darfur, South Kordofan, Red sea, Gedarif etc., are also benefitting from these courses. Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sudan, other line ministries and National Council of Training have cooperated in optimum utilization of these scholarships.
ITEC Day begun with a short film on ITEC programme, ‘Lessons in Friendship’. Some of the ITEC alumni shared their experiences during the training program, experience of local tours, Indian cultural diversity and how these training programme are benefitting in their professional excellence.  TCIL’s representative, Mr.Pankaj Sharma gave a presentation on ‘Pan Africa E- Network Project’ and its activities in Sudan. Besides, there were two other ITEC candidates who shared their experiences.
About 225 guests graced the occasion. Besides 160 ITEC participants, among the prominent attendees were chief guest H.E. Sayid Haroun, Minister of State for Culture, Amb. Abdulwaheb Hijazi, Director of Asian affairs in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Ismail Ahmed Ismail from National Centre of Training, Prof.Gasim Badri, Vice-Chancellor of Ahfad University and prominent Indian community members and President Sudan-India Friendship Association (SIFA), representatives of local media, such as, Sudan News Agency (the official news agency of Sudan).
During his remarks, H.E. Sayid Haroun, guest of honour, mentioned about the recently held India-Sudan Joint Commission Meeting and Political consultations held in February 2017 and December 2016 respectively. He said that, there is a huge scope for increased cooperation in the fields of agriculture, animal husbandry, and Mining and Petroleum sectors.  Mr. Haroun said that, the ITEC training and other scholarships, Vocational Training Centre in River Nile state and the Centre for English Language Training at Khartoum, offered by India will immensely help in development of Human resources in Sudan. Ambassador of India, Shri Amrit Lugun during his remarks highlighted the recent developments in India-Sudan bilateral relations and India’s expertise in various scientific fields and impressed on the need for more people to people interaction to strengthen bilateral relations.