On the occasion of the 74th Independence Day of India, I extend my heartfelt congratulations and greetings to all my compatriots living in the Republic of Azerbaijan. I also take this opportunity to convey on my behalf and on behalf of the Indian community in Azerbaijan warm greetings to the government and friendly people of Azerbaijan and our best wishes for their continued health and prosperity.

India and Azerbaijan share close cultural and historical links. Over the years, our multi-faceted relations have diversified in many areas. Our bilateral economic engagements have grown substantially and there is growing interest among the business communities of the two countries to collaborate and find a mutually beneficial business relationship.

We are also witnessing exponential growth in our cultural and people-to-people contacts. The two countries continue to work closely in addressing common challenges at various international platforms including the United Nations and the Non-Aligned Movement.

One of the very important component of our bilateral engagement is our collaboration through India’s development cooperation programmes where we deliver capacity building programmes in India and Azerbaijan. Some of the experiences shared by the participants are highlighted briefly below. We will continue to make efforts to diversify our development partnership with Azerbaijan in other areas in the coming years.

12 Years of India’s Development Partnership with Azerbaijan

Indian Economic and Technical Cooperation (ITEC) Programme

Government of India extended the ITEC Courses to Azerbaijani Government officials from 2008 under an Agreement on Economic And Technical Cooperation between India and Azerbaijan signed in 1998. Till date, 133 Azerbaijani candidates have participated in various ITEC programmes, in various streams such as Finance, Computer, IT Security, various management courses, English, Women Empowerment, Leadership Development etc..

Under ITEC Programme, the Government of India provides fully funded scholarship in top-class institutions in India in the courses offered. The scholarship covers international travel, course fees, accommodation, books, medical expenses in India and sundry expenses. There are currently more than 70 empanelled institutions conducting around 300 courses every year and around 12, 000 participants come from over 160 countries to India to participate in these courses.

Comments by Azerbaijani ITEC Candidates

Mr. Zaur Samadov: “I really appreciate the ITEC program as it is not easy promoting women entrepreneurship in developing communities. This course gave me a clear understanding that we all should endeavor to promote female initiatives, since it is vital both economy and family. The comfort and guidance project coordinators have provided me with has helped gain me the confidence I needed to manage some tasks during the program as well as to open myself up to new experiences.”

Mr. Farid Javadzade: “I attended the course on "Sustainable Urban Development" at EPTRI Institute in Hyderabad. During the course, we discussed clean urban policy, sustainable development of greenery in cities, energy and water conservation, and the use of solar energy. We became familiar with the Indian experience of sustainable development, clean city, green city, use of solar panels.  Within the course program, we visited the Green Buildings business center as an example of green cities ensuring sustainable development. (Indian Green Building Council, Sohrabi Godrej Green Business Center). At the end of the course program we were awarded with a certificate.”

Ms. Ilaha Mammadova: “First of all, I would like to thank the Government of India, the ITEC team and the Indian Embassy in Azerbaijan for this opportunity that was given to me. I can say that the training was a great experience for me. During the training in addition to new skills and knowledge, I managed to establish scientific contacts that will be of great help in my future research. I also thank them for the new friends, the wonderful places I've visited, and the delicious food I've tasted.”

Program for Empowering Rural Women in Azerbaijan through Networks and Finance for Leadership and Enterprise Development

In collaboration with the Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project (AzRIP) under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of Azerbaijan, Government of India organised the visits of teams of ‘Kudumbashree’, a Kerala-based NGO engaged in women empowerment, to Azerbaijan to train the rural women of Azerbaijan in forming self-help groups. The Kudumbashree Teams visited Azerbaijan from 10-20 March 2018, during which they toured Chakrili village, Masally Rayon, and conducted workshops and  training sessions for the Azerbaijani rural women.

During their visit from 6-17 September 2018, a training of Community Business Promoters has been arranged in Lahij from September 6 to 17, 2018 where youth from pilot Rayons were trained by Kudumbashree Team through a business development and management program to support the business formed by the Women Development Groups (WDGs).

The Women’s Economic  Empowerment component of the Azerbaijan Rural Investment Project (AzRIP 2) has been piloted from March 2018 and six Women Development Groups comprising 88 women have been organized in five rayons- Massalli, Lankaran, Ismailli, Balakan and Aghdam.

The model has been introduced after an exposure visit to India where women have been organized in similar groups for over twenty years. Technical assistance  for the pilot has been provided by Kudumbashree, the State Poverty Alleviation and Women’s Empowerment Program of the Government of Kerala State, India. This partnership was made possible through the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Program between the Governments of India and Azerbaijan.

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