ICPE visit to India, 27 January – 2 February 2013

As the delegation continued with B2B meetings in Kolkata, ICPE ADG met in New Delhi with representatives of the Government of India and individual institutions, with which ICPE had closely cooperated in the past.

On Wednesday, 30 January, ICPE ADG visited the Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, and met with Dr S. K. Sarkar, Additional Secretary, and Smt Deepika Lohia Aran, Deputy Secretary. ICPE ADG shortly presented the recent restructuring and improvement of ICPE’s educational programmes and the ICPE plan of activities with regard to the international MBA and short-term training programmes for the Government of India. DOPT will offer their support to ICPE programmes in agreement with the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), responsible for ICPE, and the key government institutions, which will enrol their officials to ICPE’s programmes.

At the Institute of Secretariat Training and Management (ISTM), ICPE ADG met with ISTM Director, Shri Umesh Kumar. Together with the ISTM faculty, they discussed the details of the organisation and conduct of short-term training programmes for ISTM in the first half of 2013. ICPE ADG presented the improved contents of the programmes, strengthened pool of guest lecturers and a widened network of partner institutions throughout the European Union, which ISTM participants will have an opportunity to visit in the course of their training.

Late afternoon, ICPE ADG, Minister Žerjav and HE Mr Janez Premože, Ambassador of Slovenia to India, met with Shri Praful Patel, Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, State Secretary of the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and ICPE Council President Shri O. P. Rawat, as well as Joint Secretary DPE, Shri Ashok K. Pavadia. The possibilities of strengthened economic cooperation between the two countries were discussed, while underlining the crucial role of ICPE in intensifying and opening new possibilities for concrete cooperation.

(from left) Secretary O. P. Rawat, Minister Praful Patel, Minister Radovan Žerjav, ICPE ADG Janez Podobnik, HE Ambassador Janez Premože

On Thursday, 31 January, ICPE ADG and HE Premože met with Secretary O. P. Rawat and Joint Secretary Ashok K. Pavadia to discuss in more detail the near future activities of ICPE in cooperation with the Government of India. Secretary Rawat specifically noted the immense potential for cooperation within the energy sector and the central role which ICPE could play in this field with the support of the Government of India and the Government of Slovenia. Further on, firm grounds were laid for the conduct of short-term training programmes in the period of the following six months. They discussed the details of the international postgraduate MBA programme, which is to be re-launched in September 2013 in cooperation with the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana. It is expected that 20 candidates will be nominated by the Government of India to enrol in the ICPE MBA programme in this renewed programme first study year (2013/2014).

Later on, ICPE ADG met with Prof R. K. Mishra, Director of the Institute of Public Enterprise from Hyderabad. ICPE and IPE have a signed Memorandum of Understanding, which broadly defines the scope and content of cooperation between the two institutions. They specifically discussed the details of organising training and educational programmes on e-Governance, commencing joint research projects, as well as the organisation of the joint conference on Public-Private Partnerships with a focus on energy issues in October 2013 at IPE.

ICPE ADG and Director IPE, Prof R. K. Mishra (to right)

On Friday, 1 February, ICPE ADG held the inauguration address at the “Board Orientation Program”, organised by IPE in New Delhi and attended by management boards representatives from major public sector enterprises, as well as private companies. ICPE ADG was also introduced to Shri T. K. A. Nair, Advisor at the Prime Minister’s Office, who addressed the participants on behalf of the Government of India.

In the afternoon, ICPE ADG visited the National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM) in Faridabad, Haryana. NIFM is a premier Indian research and teaching institution in the field of financial management, supported by the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India, it was a long-term partner of ICPE and numerous programmes were organised at ICPE for NIFM participants. Together with the NIFM Director, Shri Anupam Kulshreshtha, and Dr Namrata Agrawal, ICPE ADG set solid ground for a re-start of the short-term training programmes in the following months, as well as explored the potential for joint research and faculty or student exchange programmes between the two institutions.

ICPE ADG with the Director NIFM, Dr Anupam Kulshreshtha (to left), Prof Dr A. K. Sharan, and Prof Dr Namrata Agrawal