By Bisheshwar Mishra
The first IIT campus outside India will come up at Zanzibar in Tanzania, the Ministry of External Affairs said. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed for the setting up of a campus of IIT Madras in Zanzibar. The agreement was signed last night in the presence of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Zanzibar’s President Hussein Ali Mwinyi.
The MEA said, this campus is reflective of the longstanding friendship between India and Tanzania and a reminder of the focus India places on building people to people ties across Africa and the Global South. It said the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 recommends that high performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries. Dr. S Jaishankar is on a four-day official visit to Tanzania. He was welcomed by the President of Zanzibar on his arrival to Tanzania. Dr. S Jaishankar also attended a deck reception hosted onboard INS Trishul with the President of Zanzibar.
In a tweet, Dr Jaishankar described his meeting with the President of Zanzibar as delightful. He also appreciated his strong commitment to a stronger India-Zanzibar partnership. Dr. Jaishankar said that our development partnership and defence cooperation are domains with which he is closely associated. During the visit, Dr. Jaishankar will hold high-level talks and co-chair the 10th Joint Commission Meeting with his counterpart. He will visit a water supply project funded by the Government of India line of credit, and call on top leadership. The Minister will also meet with the members of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for India and inaugurate an India-Tanzania business meeting. Later, he will address the Indian diaspora and inaugurate the bust of Swami Vivekananda in Dar es Salaam.