Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran and India’s Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) signed an MOU on 1st May to set up a Centre for Iranology in the Academy of Third World Studies at JMI campus in the capital.
Iranian Vice President and head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicraft and Tourism Organization, Esfandyar Rahim Mashayee, visited JMI 1st May in connection with signing the MOU. The new Centre for Iranology will be set up in the Academy of Third World Studies located in the Jamia Millia Islamia.
Reciprocating the gesture, the Vice President announced the setting up of a Centre for Indology at Tehran which will be funded by the Iranian government. The MOU was signed between JMI and The Research Institute for Cultural Heritage, Handicraft and Tourism Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The MOU has been drawn up to establish, equip and support the Centre for Iranology and for conducting independent or joint educational and research projects as well as facilitate student and teacher exchanges. The new centre will also assist Ph. D scholars in their research in topics related to Indo-Iran relations as well as encourage scholars from JMI to choose topics of research related to Iran. It will also hold workshops and seminars on topics related to Indo-Iranian society, culture, tourism, history and literature.
In his lecture on the occasion, the Iranian vice president spoke of the need for people to know each other at the human and civilisational level. JMI Vice Chancellor Prof Mushirul Hasan, also talked of the ancient civilisational contacts between the two countries and the need to meaningfully translate this millennia-old relation in the present times into tangible social and economic terms because, as he said, “India and Iran share a common destiny”.
The visit coincided with the launch of Iran Cultural week in India during which the Rahim Mashayee also inaugurated an exhibition of Persian manuscripts and rare books housed in the JMI library. The exhibition will run till 23rd May 2008.
