Proud inheritors of historic legacies, India and West Asia have been friends and neighbours since the dawn of civilisation. With the advent of Islam the Arab-Indian contacts were further strengthened. It was the Arabs who attempted the first written history of India and drew its maps. They learnt a great deal from Indian science and medicine and spread it across the world, notably the so-called Arabic numerals and the concept of zero, thereby introducing India to the West. Both the regions suffered common experiences of oppression and exploitation under colonialism. Today, the issues of distributive justice, gender and human rights, civil society, environment and education have become the common concerns.