One of our main activities is organising and hosting Luncheon Briefings on pertinent topics of EU-Asia relations. Beginning with an informal lunch, the Briefings usually last for 1.5 hours, including questions.

Attendees include EIAS members and other interested parties.

Experts wishing to discuss a possible topic for a Lucheon Briefing are invited to contact EIAS Direct Dr Willem van der Geest.

EU – India: Pluralism and Diversity
19 September, 2006 from 13h00 – 14h30

Speaker: Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad Chief Minister of the Indian State of Jammu & Kashmir
Chair: Mr Dick Gupwell, Secretary General, European Institute for Asian Studies

Listen to an interview with the speaker (mp3)

The European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS) is honoured to welcome Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chief Minister of the Indian State of Jammu & Kashmir to its premises to speak on the implications of the pluralism and diversity that characterises India as well as the EU.

Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad was born in March 1949 at Village Soti in Doda district. He joined politics in 1973 and was nominated as President of Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Youth Congress in 1975. From 1978-81 he was President of the All India Muslim Youth Conference. He was nominated as Member of Congress Working Committee in 1986 and nominated as General Secretary of AICC in 1987 and elected as General Secretary nine times.

Mr. Azad was inducted as Union Deputy Minister for Company Affairs and Law in 1982 and later took over as it’s Minister of State. In 1985, as Member Parliament from Washim Constituency, he became Minister of State for Home Affairs in the Union Cabinet. In 1990 Mr. Azad was elected to the Rajya Sabha and in 1991 inducted as Cabinet Minister for Parliamentary Affairs. Mr. Azad was made President of JKPCC under whose guidance Congress bagged 21 seats and thus became the second largest party in the Assembly in 2002.

Mr. Azad was Union Minister for Urban Development and Law & Parliamentary Affairs in Dr. Manmohan Singh’s UPA Government before resigning to take over as Chief Minister of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Listen to an interview with the speaker (mp3)