New Delhi, Aug 24 (IANS) India and Mauritius on Monday agreed to further strengthen cooperation in public service, training and capacity building, with greater emphasis on sustained institutional engagement and exchange of expertise between the two countries, according to an official statement issued on Monday.
Discussions on the issue were held here during a meeting between Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Personnel Dr Jitendra Singh and Mauritius’s Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms Lutchmanah Raj Pentiah at the Kartavya Bhavan.
Jitendra Singh said the existing cooperation between the two countries should be taken forward through wider training opportunities, stronger linkages between public service institutions and greater sharing of India’s experience in governance, administrative reforms and technology-enabled public service delivery.
He said India has consistently supported Mauritius in developing the capabilities of its public servants and the ongoing engagement now provides an opportunity to build a more structured and enduring institutional partnership.
He referred to the understanding reached during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mauritius last year to train 500 Mauritian civil servants over five years through the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), with the first batch already undergoing training at Mussoorie.
A major focus of the meeting was the development of stronger institutional linkages between the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Public Service and Innovation (ABVIPSI) in the island nation and leading Indian institutions engaged in public service training and capacity building, including the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), and the Institute of Secretariat Training & Management (ISTM).
The minister said the recently operationalised iGOT Karmayogi Mauritius platform can provide a strong foundation for sustained digital learning and capacity building of Mauritian public servants. The meeting also explored the scope for expanding cooperation from conventional civil service training to wider areas of professional capacity building.
The IIPA has also proposed cooperation in joint research and consultancy, monitoring and evaluation of government schemes and projects, faculty and researcher capacity building, development of online training courses and modules, and faculty and staff exchanges. The Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy has proposed opportunities for Mauritian civil servants to participate in suitable mid-career and in-service training programmes and for joint design of programmes aligned with the capacity-building requirements of Mauritius.
Pentiah welcomed India’s continued support to Mauritius and sought further expansion of institutional cooperation. He proposed that NCGG teams visit Mauritius to train trainers and Mauritian public servants and to support more effective utilisation of the Karmayogi Bharat platform. He said 85 Mauritian officers have already undergone training through four missions and expressed readiness on the Mauritian side to facilitate further training programmes in Mauritius.
The Mauritian Minister also sought India’s continued support in developing the ABVIPSI as a centre of excellence for public service learning and innovation for the Indian Ocean and Eastern African region.
Besides, the two sides also discussed opportunities for cooperation in emerging areas relevant to both countries, including the Blue Economy, ocean technologies, fisheries, desalination and sustainable development. Specialised capacity-building programmes, practitioner exchanges and joint learning initiatives in these areas can create new avenues for India-Mauritius cooperation, the statement added.
–IANS
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