Kuwait envoy to India stresses role of Arabic in cementing cultural ties

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Historic ties between Kuwait and India lauded

NEW DELHI, Jan 17, (KUNA): Embassy of the State of Kuwait on Thursday conducted a cultural program in cooperation with the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi to deepen cultural relations through Arabic language.

Delivering a keynote address at the program gathering, which was attended by JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, teaching staff, members of several diplomatic missions and students, Kuwait Ambassador Jassim Al-Najem said language plays an important role in the cultural exchange between nations.

He applauded the historic ties between Kuwait and India and underlined that the Arabic language has played and still plays a major role in cementing cultural ties between the two nations and the larger Arab world. Underlining the importance of Arabic language in the current world, the Ambassador pledged support of Kuwait for the Arabic center in the university since it is seen as a major hub of excellence and expressed hope that coming days would see more cultural programs and events.

Highlighting the importance of Arabic, the Ambassador said that no language in the world except, perhaps, Chinese can match Arabic in terms of number of words. He also drew attention of the audience to the roots of Arabic language in pre-Islamic poetry and how it played an important role as the language of Quran and explained how its miraculous nature was expressed through Arabic.

Translations
Ambassador Alnaajem also launched translations of two Arabic novels namely (Awlad Harratina) by Nagib Mahfuz and (Mawsimul Hijra Ila Al Shimal) by Al Tayyib Al-Saleh, translated into Tamil and Urudu respectively by two faculty members in the Center for Arabic Language and Culture in the University.

In addition, a biannual magazine brought out by the university students in Arabic was also launched. Two students from the Arabic center were also awarded gold medals by the Kuwait Ambassador for their exceptional achievements in examinations.

On his part, JNU Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar appreciated Kuwait’s role in promoting Arabic language and sought support to increase the number of students, willing to learn it as a foreign language. The Arabic center is proud of the support received from various Arab nations, especially Kuwait and solicited further cooperation and support, Head of Center for Arabic Language and Literature Prof. Basheer Ahmed said.

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