Cambodia to cooperate with India in Human Resource Development in Civil Service

The Ministry of Civil Service of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions of the Republic of India have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in human resource development in the civil service.

The MoU between the two ministries was signed here on April 22 under the presidency of MrHun Many, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Civil Service, and DrDevyani Khobragade, Ambassador of India to Cambodia.

Mr. V. Srinivas, Secretary of the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) of India, joined the ceremony via video conference.

The MoU aims to strengthen and promote bilateral exchange and cooperation between India and Cambodia in the field of human resource development in civil service, and this will facilitate a dialogue between Indian government agencies and the agencies of the Ministry of Civil Service of Cambodia, said a press release of the Embassy of India in Phnom Penh AKP received this evening.

Addressing the function, Paul Pidou said that the MoU has laid the foundation for fruitful bilateral cooperation between institutions.

Emphasizing its significance, he said that the MoU goes beyond mere knowledge exchange and focuses on mutual learning, capacity building, and human capital development in the civil service that can contribute to improved governance, public service delivery, and policy implementation.

He affirmed that the Ministry of Civil Service will continue to do its utmost to collaborate closely with the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions, as well as the Embassy of the Republic of India, to ensure that the MoU yields the desired benefits.

For his part, V. Srinivas said that the MoU focuses on strengthening and promoting bilateral exchange and cooperation between India and Cambodia in the field of Human Resource Development in Civil Service and facilitating a dialogue between India’s Personnel Administration agencies and the agencies of the Ministry of Civil Service of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

MoU will enable significant knowledge exchanges over the next five years. India has succeeded in establishing a new paradigm of governance by creating modern-day digital institutions and is committed to the adoption of next-generation administrative reforms.

Elaborating on cooperation with Cambodia, he said that from December 2023 to April 2024, the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) conducted four programmes in which 156 Cambodian civil servants participated, and for the year 2024-25, the NCGG has proposed six programmes for 250 Cambodian civil servants.

According to the press release, capacity building with human resource development is a cornerstone of India’s bilateral cooperation with Cambodia. Fostering institutional linkages for capacity building is a key aspect of the cooperation.

Since 1981, almost 3,000 Cambodian nationals have received training under the ITEC programme. Under ITEC, 250 training slots annually, fully funded by the Government of India, are available for Cambodia.

In 2023-24, 276 Cambodian officials attended the short-term ITEC training programmes. 43 ICCR scholarships for undergraduate, post-graduate, and higher studies, including 33 under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee General Scholarship Scheme and 10 under the Mekong Ganga Cooperation Scholarship Scheme, were availed by the Cambodian students in 2023-24. In addition, Cambodian students availed three ASEAN scholarships at Nalanda University.

As an important addition, there are many customized training courses for Cambodian officials being held under the ITEC program. Six customized training courses, namely Good Governance and Implementation of Civil Judgment Decision, Good Governance and Implementation of Criminal Justice System, and four courses on Public Policy and Governance for Civil Servants of Cambodia, were held during 2023-24.

In March 2024, India held the 1st Special Course for Diplomats from Cambodia at the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service (SSIFS), Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, which 15 diplomats from Cambodia attended.AKP