The festival, featuring nine bands from across the globe, is the maiden inroad of the Indian Centre for Cultural Relations (ICCR) into jazz as a tool of cultural contact spanning Asia, North America and Europe and linking them to jazz lovers here, ICCR director general Suresh Goel told IANS.

Public Diplomacy Minister Yuli Edelstein this week defended his project to send a group of young Israelis from different sectors of society to speak at North American campuses in a bid to improve Israel's image.