THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
[SHRI V. MURALEEDHARAN]
(a) & (b) Yes, Government of India has developed partnerships with various other countries for development cooperation to enhance our bilateral relations with these countries. Our cooperation with other countries is guided by broad principles of South-South Cooperation like respect for national sovereignty, national ownership, non-conditionality and non-interference. India has been engaging with like minded countries through bilateral and multilateral forums to work on the projects which promote our shared interests and goals.
Developmental cooperation with the partner countries are being executed through instruments such as Grant assistance, Lines of Credit and Concessional Financing Scheme. There are also separate cooperation programmes with individual countries depending on specific bilateral requirements. Grant assistance also includes the programs aimed at Capacity Building and High Impact Community Development Projects. The development projects being undertaken cover a wide range of sectors with an aim to build greater connectivity, improve infrastructure, strengthen security cooperation and promote people-to-people contacts.
Details of GoI Lines of Credit extended to different countries since 2015-16 is enclosed at Annexure-A.
Details of major development cooperation initiatives undertaken bilaterally in countries abroad in the last four years is enclosed at Annexure-B.
(c) & (d) No. However, India has provided training to 50,267 personnel from 161 countries in various instituions of India under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme in the last four years. Details of number of participants in the last four years is enclosed at Annexure-C.
(e) & (f) Government has been providing humanitarian assistance to countries affected by disasters. A list summarizing major initiatives under humanitarian assistance provided in the last two years to disaster affected countries has been attached at Annexure-D.
As another initiative in the field of humanitarian assistance for disasters, the SAARC Disaster Management Centre-Interim Unit was set up in 2016 under Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management to render policy advice, technical support on system development, capacity building services and training for holistic management of disaster risk in the SAARC region. About 454 participants have been trained in various training programmes/workshops so far. India is also a part of SAARC Food Bank which has been established to supplement national efforts to provide food security to the people of the region.
(g) The scope and reach of India’s development assistance has seen considerable expansion in the past few years. The focus of development assistance has been the countries in India’s neighborhood and in Africa, though India is also expanding its development assistance reach to South East Asia, East and Central Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific Island Countries.
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