India-IMF signed MoU to establish Regional Training Centre

India and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a regional training and technical assistance centre in the capital keeping in mind of enhancing the capacity development and training officers to deal with macro-economic and financial issues.

• The MoU was signed between Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde. The new centre will be the first to solely concentrate on training and technical assistance to develop capacity of the Indians.
• The centre named a South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center (SARTTAC) will act as the center for planning, coordinating and implementing IMFs capacity development activity in the area and surroundings and will focus on varied range of issues like macro-economic and fiscal management, financial operations, financial sector regulation and supervision, macro-economic statistics.
• SARTTAC will also address existing training requirements and will work closely on IMF training in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It will also ensure improving the region’s training to bring it at par with other regions.
• The centre will also offer courses and seminars for policymakers and government agencies from the 6 countries. The project will be funded by regional member nations and development partners. However, the Australian Agency for International Development, the Republic of Korea and India have already extended their hands to the centre for financial support.

(Source: The Hindu)