New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS): The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval for the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and African-Asian Rural Development Organisation (AARDO) for capacity building programmes in the rural development sector.

"The MoU for the triennium 2015-2017 is being signed under which capacity building programmes for AARDO member countries will be organised every year during the triennium at various institutions of excellence in India," an official statement here said.

AARDO is an autonomous, inter-governmental organisation formed to promote cooperation among the countries of the African-Asian region to eradicate thirst, hunger, illiteracy, disease and poverty in the region.

The programmes will be organised in institutes such as National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD and PR), institutions governed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM).

Each training programme would be of two to three weeks.

AARDO currently has 31 countries of the African-Asian region under its fold.