The ceremony to mark the foundation day of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations in Tien Giang province on April 9 (Photo: thtg.vn) Tien Giang (VNA) –The foundation day of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) wascelebrated at a ceremony in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang on April 9.
The event was organised by the Southern FruitResearch Institute (SOFRI) under the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciencesand the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City.
SOFRI Director Nguyen Van Hoa said the ICCR isan independent organisation founded on April 9, 1950, by the first EducationMinister of India – Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
It aims to help with thebuilding and implementation of policies and programmes relevant to India’sexternal cultural relations, and with the enhancement of India’s culturalexchange and cooperation with other countries, he said.
Since its inception, the ICCR has assistedVietnam in high-quality postgraduate training, he said, noting that throughthis organisation, leading educational establishments of India has supportedVietnam to train masters and doctors of many sectors, including management anddevelopment of small- and medium-sized enterprises, rural development,information technology, network management, computer science, electronics, andculture-arts. The ICCR grants more than 20 scholarships to Vietnameseapplicants each year.
Between 1986 and 2018, it assisted the SOFRI intraining 47 masters and nine doctors, helping the institute improve its staff’squality. This is an important factor contributing to the SOFRI’s achievementsin creating new vegetable, flower and fruit tree varieties, and developingtechnical advances and biological products serving organic production, Hoasaid.
On this occasion, Indian Ambassador to VietnamParvathaneni Harish presented the ICCR Distinguished Alumni Award to formerDeputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong, who is aformer ICCR student.-VNA
VNA
