India-Arab Cultural Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) organised a panel discussion titled ‘The New Era of India-Uzbekistan Relations’ on 22 September 2026, in the conference hall of the India-Arab Cultural Centre, JMI. Professor Nasir Raza Khan, the convener of the panel discussion, introduced the theme. He emphasized that the panellists would focus on the recent visit by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, to Tashkent, which marked a significant turning point in Central Asian diplomacy. This visit resulted in key agreements aimed at preserving the region’s heritage and shared history. He also thanked the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Prof. Mazhar Asif, and the Esteemed Registrar, Prof. M. Mahtab Alam Rizvi, for their support and encouragement. He expressed gratitude to Dr Aftab Ahmad, Director of the Centre, for his assistance in organising the event.
Before the panel discussion a recently published edited volume titled ‘India-Arab Relations: From Historical Perspectives to Contemporary Dynamics’, edited by Prof. Nasir Raza Khan, and published by Primus Books, New Delhi was launched. The book traces the deep linkages that exist between the Arab world and the Indian subcontinent, historically as well as culturally, examining the process of their transformation in the modern era.
The panellist included Prof. Sanjay Kumar Pandey (SIS, JNU) and Dr Athar Zafar (Senior Research Fellow, ICWA), and Mr Ulubek Rizaev, counsellor of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in India. In addition to the panellists, the event also attended by senior colleagues department of Foreign Languages and Prof. Mohsin Ali, department of Persian. Dr Prasun Chatterjee, deputy head of Primus Books was also present during the book release. In his welcome remarks, Dr. Aftab Ahmad, Director of the IACC at JMI, emphasized the important cultural ties between India and the Central Asian region. He also expressed his appreciation to Prof. Nasir Raza Khan for organizing the panel discussion and for publishing the book on India-Arab relations.
While discussing India-Uzbekistan relations, Professor Sanjay Kumar Pandey from the School of International Studies at JNU contributed considerable depth to the session through his own scholarship on the region. He spoke about the old-age civilisational linkage between India and the Central Asian region. Mr. Ulubek Rizaev, counsellor of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in India, spoke about the importance of the growing India-Uzbekistan relations, with the recent visit of our Honourable Prime Minister of India, which was upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries.
Dr Athar Zafar approached the India-Uzbekistan relationship from different dimensions. He mapped the structural evolution of the partnership from the Strategic Partnership to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and also detailed the expanding pillars of the relationship in pharmaceuticals and digital partnerships, medical tourism and people-to-people connectivity. Dr Vaishali Krishna, from JNU, spoke about the sustainability of the relationship and the ideas that underpin it, also invoking Vasudev Kutumbhkam as India’s philosophical compass.
A large number of students from the IACC, the Department of Foreign Languages, and the Department of History attended the programme.
Source : Jamia Millia Islamia