New Delhi [India], August 2 (ANI): The first tranche of four projects under the aegis of 'India UN Global Capacity Building Initiative' was launched on August 1 by Secretary (West) Tanmaya Lal, Ministry of External Affairs, a statement by the MEA said.

Heads of Missions of the countries where these projects are being launched, UN Resident Coordinator Shombi Sharp, Heads of various UN agencies in India and senior MEA officials were present during the launch.

The initiative was announced in September 2023 on the margins of 78th Session of United Nations General Assembly in the presence of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, following which Ministry of External Affairs and UN country team in India jointly worked to identify the projects and their implementation to foster south-south cooperation to accelerate SDG goals, as per the statement.

India is a pioneer in the capacity building efforts for the global south. The ITEC (Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation) is its flagship programme under which more than 12,000 training slots are provided to nearly 160 countries in more than 400 specialised courses every year, with more than 2,25,000 training slots done so far since its inception.

The India UN Global South Capacity Building is a natural extension of India's capacity building expertise in technical and economic areas, onboarding UN agencies, to design demand-driven programmes in respective countries with an aim to support their human resources through specialised training in areas leading to make positive impact towards achieving of the SDGs. The UN Agency will support the host government in identification of SDG oriented project and other aspects while the training component would be implemented through ITEC programme of India.

In the first phase, four projects have been identified for implementation which included (a) Rice Fortification and Supply Chain Management in Nepal with support of World Food Programme; (b) Digital Health Platform for Zambia and Lao PDR with support of UNDP; (c) Census Preparedness in Belize, Barbados, St Kitts & Navies, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago with support of UN Population Fund; and (d) Vocational Training Programme for South Sudan with support of UNESCO. For these projects, ITEC training institutes have been identified and courses are expected to be implemented from September 2025, as per the MEA statement. (ANI)