webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2010
All rights reserved
From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Fri Aug 13 2010 - 08:09:35 EDT
http://www.thehindu.com/business/article568408.ece
Published: August 13, 2010 17:27 IST | Updated: August 13, 2010 17:27 IST New
Delhi, August 13, 2010
India to link 12 more countries to Pan-African network IANS
Twelve more African countries will be formally inducted into India’s
flagship initiatives in tele-medicine and tele-education as part of the
Pan-African network that will also establish a communication link between
secretariats of their heads of states.
On Aug 16, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna will have a
video-conference with Ministers of 12 African countries. These will be the
second batch of African nations to be formally inducted into the satellite
network.
“In some countries, the foreign minister would be at the launch site, while
in others, the concerned minister would be present for the ceremony. We will
be going to each country through video-conference one-by-one,” said a senior
External Affairs Ministry official.
The first batch of eleven countries had been inducted in February 2009, when
the then External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee had inaugurated the
network with a similar video-conference ceremony.
“Since the Minister speaks to each country one after another, there is a
limited time in the schedule and we have had to restrict the number of
countries to twelve,” he said.
So far, India has signed agreement with 47 countries in Africa, but the
infrastructure has been completed in thirty-four of them.
The countries that will be formally part of the network are Botswana,
Burundi, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Malawi, Mozambique,
Somalia and Uganda. “For the first time, we will have countries from North
Africa who will be part of the program,” the official, who could not be
identified because of government rules, told IANS.
The eleven countries in the first batch were Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, The
Gambia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Seychelles.
There are three components to the Pan-African network, implemented by
State-run Tele Communications of India Limited (TCIL) which are
tele-medicine, tele-education, as well as, a “VVIP” network between the
heads of State or government.
The pilot project of the network was with 34 students to acquire a degree in
Masters of Business Administration from Indira Gandhi National Open
University, without even leaving their country’s border.
Since then, 2000 African students are enrolled to get their degrees from top
Indian universities, by attending classes by Indian lecturers, through
video-conferencing.
Besides, doctors in African hospitals are also getting further training as
part Continuing Medical Education classes conducted by Indian doctors
working in super-specialty medical institutions here. “We have conducted 658
CME sessions so far,” said a senior TCIL official.
Online medical consultation is also being provided to each participating
African country for a period of five years in various medical disciplines.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----