Krishna felicitates Afghan journalists trained in India
By IANSThursday, January 27, 2011
NEW DELHI - External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Thursday felicitated 30 Afghan journalists, including 14 women, trained at a media institute here and said India, which had no vested interest other than the growth of Afghanistan, would continue helping the country in capacity building measures.
The relationship between India and Afghanistan cannot be dismantled by any force simply because India doesn\’t have any vested interest other than the growth of Afghanistan as a democratic and pluralistic nation alongside with other countries in this region, Krishna told the Afghan journalists.
The journalists, from various media houses including Kabul Times, Howad Daily, BBC Pashtun and government media wings from the war-ravaged Afghanistan, were given multi-media skill training at the Indian Institute of Mass Communications (IIMC) in the capital for 15 days.
The course was sponsored by the government of India. The journalists also visited various media houses in the capital as part of the course.
Krishna gave away the certificates to them at the felicitation ceremony organised in the South Block office of the external affairs ministry.
Krishna said the media course organised for the Afghan journalists is one of our humble ways in terms of capacity building for Afghanistan.
India, he said, will continue its support in building indigenous capacity institutions in Afghanistan for which it has pledged $1.3 billion for a slew of reconstruction activities ranging from building roads and railways to power stations and grassroots projects.
The minister said India wanted good trading relations with Afghanistan that provides transport corridor to energy rich Central Asia.
He said Indian efforts in rebuilding of Afghanistan would continue and any reconstruction effort in that country was Afghan-led.
India doesn\’t don the attitude of big brother. Whatever is being done is Afghan-led, he said.
