India on Thursday 10th October, 2013 has signed agreements with seven countries for Nalanda University project being built near the ruins of the ancient academic institution. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) were signed with the countries Australia, Cambodia, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Lao PDR and Myanmar. All these countries pledged their commitment and support for the ambitious Nalanda University project.
The agreements were signed at East Asia Summit in Brunei. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived to participate in the ASEAN-India Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS), which is a forum for cooperation 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 countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said “I would like to thank the East Asia Summit participating countries for their support for the establishment of Nalanda University as an international institution of excellence. I am happy that the process of signing the inter- governmental Memorandum of Understanding on the Nalanda University has begun. Academic sessions at the University are set to begin next year. I hope students and faculty from all EAS countries will participate in this exciting venture.”
According to official sources the project is in progress. China has contributed USD one million for the project; Singapore has pledged USD 5-6 million, Australia about USD one million Australia dollars.
