Paving the way for academic collaboration in India’s traditional medicine systems, especially in the field of Ayurveda, between the two countries, the Ministry of Ayush on Wednesday entered into an agreement with Croatia on Wednesday.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) and Croatia’s Kvarner Health Tourism Cluster. AIIA is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Ayush.

The MoU with Croatia is a significant step towards bolstering India’s ties with other countries and promoting academic research, clinical and educational activities, medical education, training, and competency building.

Dr Manoj Nesari, Adviser-Ayurveda, Ministry of Ayush, signed the MoU on behalf of AIIA in the presence of Special Secretary Ayush, Shri Pramod Kumar Pathak and the Ambassador of India to Croatia, Shri Raj Shrivastava.

From the Croatian side, President of the Cluster, Assistant Professor Vladimir Mozetič, President of the Management Board of the Cluster, Irena PeršićŽivadinov, and members of the Management Board Prof. Sandra Janković, Sandra Martinčić and Anna Maria Librić attended the event.

A six-member delegation, led by Special SecretaryAyush Shri Pramod Kumar Pathak, were in Croatia to attend the first International Yoga and Ayurveda conference earlier this week.

The two sides will undertake academic activities in the field of Ayurveda in collaboration with the identified institutions. There will be close cooperation and collaboration on research, including study design and execution, developing evidence-based guidelines for integrating Ayurvedic principles and practices with modern medicine, conducting lectures, workshops, seminars and conferences, and other such activities on Ayurveda.

Both sides will also develop academic standards and courses in accordance with the needs of the institution, end users and stakeholders and develop Ayurvedic medical education guidelines for Ayurveda education in Croatia.

“This will promote academic research, clinical and educational activities, medical education, training, and competency building”, said Dr Manoj Nesari, Adviser-Ayurveda, Ministry of Ayush.

“Considering that one of the goals of the Cluster is to connect members with international partners for a more comprehensive offer of health and tourism products, but also to educate members of the Association, we believe that this business cooperation with the Indian Ministry opens a new opportunity to connect our 32 members with potential partners from India. In addition to improving the health and tourism offer in Kvarner, in this way we will work with new partners on education, training and building and strengthening competencies," said Dr. Vladimir Mozetič.

*****

SK