The Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) was initiated at the First Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) for Asia Pacific Region in Sydney, in February 1978. The MTCP was officially launched on 7th September 1980 at the Commonwealth Heads of State Meeting in New Delhi.

The MTCP signifies Malaysia’s commitment to South-South Cooperation, in particular technical cooperation among developing countries. Annually more than 50 short-term specialised courses are offered by leading Malaysian training institutions, many of which are centres of excellence for training.

In line with the spirit of South-South Cooperation, Malaysia through MTCP shares its development experiences and expertise with other developing countries. MTCP is formulated based on the belief that the development of a country depends on the quality of its human resources. The programme forms the commitment of the Government of Malaysia towards the promotion of technical cooperation among developing countries, strengthening of regional and sub-regional cooperation, as well as nurturing collective self-reliance among developing countries.

The MTCP programmes are designed to meet the ever changing needs and requirements of MTCP recipient countries in collaboration with Malaysian training institutions. Objectives of the MTCP includes:

• To share experience with other developing countries;
• To strengthen bilateral ties with developing countries;
• To encourage and promote South-South Cooperation; and
• To promote technical cooperation amongst developing countries.

SME Corp. Malaysia is consider one of the training Institute under the MTCP since 2006. Starting from 2011, SME Corp. Malaysia enters into a tripartite collaboration with the support of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP), Ministry of Foreign Affairs Malaysia to organise Third Country Training Programme (TCTP), a yearly capacity-building programme. This programme serves as an interactive platform to share information and experiences in formulating and implementing SME development policies and initiatives.

To date, a total of 395 participants, representing various Ministries and agencies related to SME development from 55 African countries, have attended the TCTP.