He said that India is a superpower and second largest democratic country while Indonesia is the fourth largest democratic country of the world. Ghalib said that Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru invited President Sukarno to India and this year Indonesian President was the Chief Guest of the Indian Republic Day function.

 Ambassador Ghalib said that Indonesia is the largest Muslim populated country of the world and the Aligarh Muslim University is the biggest Muslim educational institution of the world. He said we are interested that more students of Indonesia come to study at AMU. He appreciated the efforts of AMU Students’ Union to hold International Cultural meet.

 Dr. Maher Salam Adil Tarawneh, Counselor of Jordan Embassy said that AMU alumni played a vital role for the advancement of Jordan. He urged the University authorities to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Jordanian universities.

 Julliette Galonnier, a research scholar of France said that as a French lady, I have always received a warm welcome and the students were always ready to help me in my research on Aligarh Muslims. I really enjoyed because in France you don’t find such availability of people and such a solidarity.

 She said that Aligarh had a long connection with France. As told by the AMU PRO, Dr. Rahat Abrar, the Aligarh Fort was rebuilt by French people. In 1791, the French arrived in Aligarh and under the supervision of General Perron, some French engineers built the fort.

 She suggested that such type of interaction between western people and Muslims are very much needed in order to tackle all the stereotypes. France has 5% Muslim population and hoped that one day Sir Syed Day will also be celebrated in France.

 Abu Affan Farooquee, President of AMU Students’ Union said that the purpose of this international meet is to provide a platform to foreign students to present their culture.

 He said that the University has invited prominent personalities of the world and conferred upon them the honorary degrees and honorary life membership of the AMU Students’ Union.

Farooquee demanded a separate hostel for foreign students and urged the diplomats to resolve the visa problems of the foreign students.

Amir Qutub, Secretary of the AMU Students’ Union in his welcome address pointed out that AMU is a true secular institution in character and it never discriminates anyone on the basis of caste, creed, religion or race. AMU is truly an institution of international repute and provides education to foreign students also.

AMU Proctor and Foreign Students’ Advisor, Prof. M. Zubair Khan said that that AMU is a cradle of peace, coexistence tolerance and universal brotherhood and enjoys an exalted position in India and abroad.

He said that AMU has more than three hundred students from twenty three countries including America, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Malaysia, Palestine, Sudan, South Africa and Saudi Arabia etc. At the same time there are around one hundred NRI students.

AMU Foreign Students’ Advisor said that there is a pressing need to have a separate Hall of Residence for Foreign Students with all amenities of international standard as these students do not prefer hostel accommodation provided by the University.

Sarfaraz Rasmally, Cabinet Member of the AMU Students’ Union was the coordinator of the International Cultural Meet. The students of different countries presented their cultural programmes. Vote of thanks was proposed by Umar Qadri, Vice President of the Students’ Union.

Foreign students presented University Tarana and the National Anthem.