India to sign MoU with East Asian nations for Nalanda Univ

Seeking to establish Nalanda University as an international institution, India will sign an inter-governmental agreement with six East Asian nations.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard will be signed tomorrow here during the East Asia Summit, official sources said.

Those signing the MoU on Nalanda University include Australia, Cambodia, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand and Laos.

Five countries would be given representation in the governing board of the prestigious institute.

The MoU will be signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit here to participate in the ASEAN-India Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS).

The Nalanda University is being built near the ruins of the historic academic place by the same name in Bihar. Those involved in the project include Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.

Asked about the project, which is expected to commence first academic session from next year, official sources said that it is making good progress.

"It is for the first time that such an agreement is being signed here at EAS," they said, while adding that there will be five representatives from the EAS on the Nalanda University governing board.

According to sources, China has already committed USD one million for the project, Singapore has pledged USD 5-6 million, Australia about one million Australia dollar and all these funds have been committed on voluntary basis.

Indian government had enacted the Nalanda University Act, 2010 to implement the decisions arrived at the Second East Asia Summit held in January 15, 2007 in the Philippines and subsequently at the Fourth East Asia Summit in Thailand for establishment of the Nalanda University.

In August this year, the government had introduced the Nalanda University (Amendment Bill), 2013, in the Parliament.

East Asia Summit is a forum for co-operation between various countries of this region with ASEAN and includes Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russia and the US, in addition to the ten ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries.

The ten ASEAN nations are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.