JOIN USSpeaking to mediapersons at the ongoing 11th meeting of the IOR - ARC, Vish Badal, minister, IOR-ARC Secretariat in Mauritius, said that UMIOR is an academic exchange programme.
Vish Badal said India proposed the concept which all the nations supported.
Stating that there are universities of high standard within the region, he said: “We want students to use this opportunity so that we can retain our people in our region. There is no need to go to the Western countries to study though they are also very good.”
He said some of the best practices adopted in these 18 nations need to be followed.
The meeting also discussed the need to promote drug sector in the Rim in view of the wide-range of home-grown remedies available in the area and bio-diversity in coastal region.
Ravi Bangar, joint secretary, multilateral economic relations, Ministry of External Affairs, said the emphasis of Friday’s meeting was on promoting academic, science and technology, and research in areas of common interests of all the IOR-ARC members.
80 studies on
Bangar said 80 studies are being conducted in various areas of science and technology, economics, trade, commerce, oceanography and natural disaster like tsunami, which affected most of the IOR-ARC member nations.
Bangar said presently, there are 900 scholarship programmes in progress, including entrepreneurship programme and vocational training among the IOR-ARC nations.
He said a ‘Science and Technology Regional Centre’ coming up at Tehran in Iran, is in a nascent stage and needs more attention.