Preah Sihanoukraja Buddhist University in Battambang Opens India-funded IT Centre

Preah Sihanoukraja Buddhist University, Battambang (SBUBB), on Wednesday opened its IT Centre established as a Quick Impact Project under the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation with grant funding from the Government of India.

The inauguration ceremony was presided over by H.E. Dr. Devyani Khobragade, Ambassador of India to Cambodia and Most Ven. Vy Sovechea, President of SBUBB.

Speaking on the occasion, H.E. Ambassador and SBUBB President lauded the close civilisational and cultural links between Cambodia and India since ancient times, stressing that their bilateral relationship has stood the test of time.

Most Ven. Vy Sovechea thanked the Embassy of India for establishing an IT Centre at SBU, which is beneficial not only for young Buddhist monks, but also for the girl students and others from far flung areas as computer literacy is very important for the students in today’s era, he added.

For her part, H.E. Dr. Devyani Khobragade highlighted that SBUBB and Embassy of India are closest partners in the field of education and research and taking forth their common goal of spreading the ideals of Buddhism which is one of the strongest bonds between India and Cambodia. SBU Main branch and Battambang branch thus, played a very important role in promoting India-Cambodia relations in modern contemporary times

H.E. Ambassador added that India and Cambodia are celebrating 70 years of establishment of diplomatic relations. Their relations are growing in all fields whether it is political, commercial, information technology, tourism, culture, defence, and people-to-people contacts. She continued that capacity building is an important area of assistance exhorted more students and professionals from Cambodia to avail the 40 plus ICCR and 250 plus ITEC scholarships.

According to H.E. Dr. Devyani Khobragade, the Government of India is contributing towards socio- economic development of the people of Cambodia through such Quick Impact Project (QIP) under Mekong-Ganga Cooperation Framework, where in grant assistance is being provided for implementation of 10 projects every year with a capital cost of US$50,000/- for each project. The type of projects under QIP scheme include creation or up-gradation of physical infrastructure such as local community centres, schools, water resources, toilets, socio-economic projects in fields such as education, health, sanitation, child welfare, rural development, gender equality, women empowerment, IT, agriculture, and environment. The emphasis is on short gestation projects with direct benefit to the local communities.

Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse