New Delhi: India and Nepal will be signing five MoUs during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Lumbini on Monday, ANI reported. “In presence of the Prime Ministers of two countries, five MoUs will be signed which will deepen the century-old cultural educational and cultural ties,” the news agency reported a source in Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying. The Indian Educational and Cultural Foundation will sign one MoU each with the Lumbini Buddhist University and the Tribhuvan University and three MoUs with the Kathmandu University on Monday.
The Kathmandu University and the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai will also sign two other MoUs, the source said, according to the news agency.
Prime Minister Modi will be visiting Lumbini on Monday at the invitation of his Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba.
“I look forward to offering prayers at the Mayadevi Temple on the auspicious occasion of Buddha Jayanti. I am honoured to follow in the footsteps of millions of Indians to pay reverence at the sacred site of Lord Buddha's birth,” said Prime Minister Modi prior to his departure.
“I also look forward to meeting Prime Minister Deuba again after our productive discussions during his visit to India last month. We will continue to build on our shared understanding to expand cooperation in multiple areas, including in hydropower, development and connectivity,” he added.
Prime Minister Modi said that he would be participating in “Shilanyas” ceremony of the India International Centre for Buddhist Culture and Heritage in the Lumbini Monastic Zone apart from visiting the holy Mayadevi Temple.
“I will also be attending celebrations to mark the occasion of Buddha Jayanti organised by the Government of Nepal,” he added.
Asserting India’s ties with Nepal are “unparalleled”, Prime Minister Modi said: “The civilisational and people-to-people contacts between India and Nepal form the enduring edifice of our close relationship.”
“My visit is intended to celebrate and further deepen these time-honoured linkages that have been fostered through centuries and recorded in our long history of inter-mingling,” he added.