Aligarh, Feb 17 (IANS) The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the George Washington University's Law School in the US for facilitating academic research and initiating students' exchange programmes, an official said.

'The agreement will enable individual scholars from both the institutions to establish contacts for conducting research and other academic activities,' AMU spokesperson Rahat Abrar told reporters here.

'The major areas of research between the two institutes would include intellectual property law, Islamic law, constitutional law, international and comparative law and environmental law,' he added.

AMU Vice Chancellor P.K. Abdul Azis described the occasion as a historic moment and said the AMU has signed an agreement with one of the world's leading higher educational institutions in law with substantial expertise in administrative law, public interest law, international and comparative law, environmental law and intellectual property law.

Fredrick Lawrence, Dean, Faculty of Law at George Washington University, welcomed the new and innovative academic partnership and said that his university offered more than sixty courses and it was providing the facilities to students from 55 different countries, including India.