The Government of India has offered 19 defence training slots to Guyana Defence Force under its Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme.
These training slots would include 10 Army Courses, four Naval Courses and five Air Force Courses. These courses of different durations, three to six months, will be spread over multiple months and will be conducted in different time periods during 2021-2022.
This is the first time that Guyana has access to these military training programmes. Under ITEC Programme, the Government of India covers all expenses related to this training and provide the trainees return air ticket, accommodation charges, tuition fee, living expenses, medical expenses, external and internal tours as per course curriculum.
The first recipient of a scholarship under Naval Course, Lieutenant Coast Guard Derrick Johnson is likely to leave for India soon for the Long N Course at ND School, Kochi, Kerala in July 2021.
Until 2020, India normally offered 50 training slots annually to Guyana for skill development and capacity building through various courses of Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme.
Over 650 Guyanese scholars who had already received training under ITEC Programme are contributing effectively to Guyana so far. Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) every year offers nine fully paid scholarships for studies in prominent Indian Institutions for Under Graduate, Post Graduate and PhD courses.
In addition, two fully paid scholarships in Music, Dance, performing art, theatre, sculpture, Indian Cuisine etc. and two slots to study Hindi in India are also provided by ICCR. In May-June this year, India has already provided training to 25 media professionals from Guyana under ITEC. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, multiple e-ITEC online courses have been held in 2020-21, which has benefitted over 10 Guyanese participants.
India extends defence cooperation to a number of countries where the armed forces work together to achieve mutual aims and objectives, to assist them strengthen their institutions in relation to security, to strengthen security systems in the context of continued threats of territorial incursion and terrorism, to provide training in various military skills, including combat, marksmanship, emergency medical evacuation, search-and-rescue and recovery responses, etc.
The broad objectives of Indian defence cooperation include the promotion of intra and extra-regional peace and stability through dialogue and cooperation in the field of defence and security. It also encourages sharing of operational and doctrinal expertise, training and capability enhancement, strengthening of ties with other countries and sharing of military technologies.
Such cooperation allows for the examination and imbibing of ‘best practices, creates the ability to operate alongside and enhances Maritime Domain Awareness, through a variety of information-sharing mechanisms.
With the interest of foreign armies for training in Indian Army establishments increasing considerably, the armed forces personnel from India’s neighbouring countries, South East Asia, Central Asian Republics (CAR), African continent and a few developed countries are regularly attending military courses and being trained in India so far.
India is now engaged in a wide range of activities with other friendly countries, ranging from Chile and Brazil in the Far-West to Japan and Korea in the Far East and has concluded suitable defence cooperation agreements with over 30 countries. Guyana is the latest addition to this list of Indian partner countries. (Indian High Commission press release)
