India Offers Scholarships to 400 Syrian University Students to Study in India
: India has offered fullypaid scholarships to 400 Syrian university students to study at various universities across the country. The West Asian nation is slowly getting back to normalcy after seven years of counter-ISIS operations. ET has learnt that most Syrian students for under-graduate and postgraduate courses have arrived in India as part of the initiative. This decision, first of its kind, was designed and conceived to develop closer bonds between the two countries as the Assad government has successfully thwarted terror group ISIS. As part of its goodwill gesture, the government has provided flight tickets to all these students. For over five decades now, India has been offering capacity-building courses to students and professionals of developing countries. “This was a special gesture which was extended due to Indo-Syrian political ties. India has stepped up its engagement with Damascus as the situation is returning to normal in most parts of Syria,” a person familiar with the West Asian developments told ET. New Delhi, which supported the Assad government in its fight against ISIS, is seeking to relaunch its economic and soft power engagements with Syria. High-level political engagements are also in the offing over the next few months. India has extended its strong support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, which, on its part, has provided support on the Kashmir issue on all international forums, including the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and believes India has the full right to take action it deems fit following any cross-border strike. As part of economic engagement, nearly 100 Indian companies participated in an industrial fair that was hosted in Damascus last year. Under an Indian government’s line of credit facility of $25 million, Apollo International has modernised a steel plant and BHEL is executing a project there. Damascus is also willing to offer phosphate blocks for exploration in the Syrian desert zone.
Source: Economic Times, 11/01/2019
