Joining President Irandoust in meeting with them were Professor S. K. Rakshit, Vice-President for Research, Professor Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, Dean SET, Professor S. Kumar, Dean SERD, Dr. Jonathan Shaw, Director Extension, Dr. Pritam Shrestha, Head ERCO, as well as the faculty and researchers who had earlier on submitted ideas on future projects and funding, including the possible continuation of ongoing ventures, within the guidelines provided by the Finnish Cooperation. This new phase of the Finnish development cooperation in the region is due to start in 2009, and will replace the agreement for institutional cooperation with AIT currently in place. It is foreseen that the Finnish Development Cooperation would devote an amount of 28 million (Euro) for a period of 3 years in the
Mekong region, relying on partnerships with a limited number of institutions, including AIT.During their visit to AIT, the members of the mission also interacted with representatives of the Wetland Alliance Programme, another regional cooperation endeavor with objectives related to those of the Finnish development cooperation. They also held specific meetings with faculty involved in ICT and PPT, which are the programmes currently supported by the Finnish Cooperation.
The draft proposals AIT presented to the mission were very well received and, while this is only a very first step that is still far from any decision on funding and implementation (as the mandate of the mission is consultative in nature), AIT President Irandoust was very confident that the institute is on a good track to renew our decades long partnership with Finland at the service of the development of the region.
AIT President Said Irandoust thanked our active faculty colleagues who provided a large number of research proposals of high quality, as evidenced from the positive feedback received.