By Arvind Padmanabhan
Ramallah (Palestine), Oct 13 (IANS): President Pranab Mukherjee was on Tuesday conferred an honorary doctorate by the Al-Quds University at Abu Dees near here and also inaugurated an Indo- Palestine Centre for Excellence in ICT.
During the event, India also gifted 30 computers to the Centre, and announced an India chair to promote studies about its country.
The proposed inauguration of the Jawaharlal Nehru Secondary School for Boys was cancelled because of some protests in the area by university students against Israeli forces.
Mukherjee said the ICT Centre will have a satellite centre in Ramallah and that India will build a similar institution in Gaza.
"India has always been happy to partner Palestine in promoting education.Over the years, around 12,000 Palestinian students have graduated from Indian universities, many of them on scholarships offered by the government of India," the president said.
"Today, these students serve as a bridge between our two countries."
The president also said under the India Technical and Economic Cooperation, 760 Palestine nationals had been trained and announced that the annual slots under the programme were being doubled to 100.
Those at the event included Palestine Education Minister Sabri Saidam and Al-Quds University president Imad Abu Kishek.