THE Indian government has donated laboratory equipment worth US$500,000 to Yangon University under a bilateral education cooperation program.

The equipment, which will be used to upgrade physics, biotechnology and IT laboratories, was handed over to the Education Minister, U Than Aung, by the Indian ambassador, Mr Rajiv Bhatia, at a ceremony at the university on June 22.

In an address at the ceremony, U Than Aung, welcomed the donation, saying it would be a valuable contribution to plans by the university to expand its scientific research activities.

U Than Aung also praised a bilateral educational exchange program launched last year, under which academics from India have visited Yangon University to conduct seminars for doctoral candidate students.

“The valuable input from India in the form of equipment and expertise is most opportune as Yangon University is poised to become a centre of excellence for research in Myanmar,” U Than Aung said.

Mr Bhatia said at the ceremony that India has given priority to Myanmar as part of New Delhi’s plan to promote education cooperation with other developing countries.

“India is open to sharing its experience and expertise with other developing countries and as our friend and immediate neighbour, Myanmar naturally receives a priority,” Mr Bhatia said.

He said the expansion of bilateral relations over the past few years had increasingly paved the way for mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields.
They included education and human resources development, which Mr Bhatia said, had become a ‘major pillar’ in bilateral cooperation.

He said a business training institute, the Entrepreneurship Development Centre, funded by the Indian government and using Indian academics, would be opened later this year.

The two countries agreed last year to open the centre, which is part of a program by India to assist human resources development in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

The centre, which will be based at the Yangon Institute of Economics, will provide training in information technology, banking, managing small and medium enterprises and English.

Mr Bhatia said the launch of the centre in November will be another milestone, both bilaterally and in the framework of the larger India-ASEAN relationship.