New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ready for another foreign visit. But this time it’s only a few hours across the border to neighboring Nepal.
On May 16, the Prime Minister will make a brief visit to Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautama Buddha. Prime Minister Modi will visit the Himalayan nation at the invitation of his Nepalese counterpart, Sher Bahadur Deuba, according to press aide to Nepalese Prime Minister Anil Pariyar.
During the hour-long drive, Prime Minister Modi Lumbini will pay a brief visit to western Nepal on the occasion of Buddha Purnima, Lord Buddha’s birthday, the official said. It is Prime Minister Modi’s first visit to Nepal since his re-election in 2019.
Prime Minister Deuba is also expected to attend the program along with his Indian counterpart. However, the State Department has not yet officially announced the visit.
Deuba was in Delhi last month for his first bilateral foreign visit after becoming prime minister for the fifth time in July 2021. During the visit, which aimed to boost bilateral ties, Deuba held talks with Modi on a number of key issues, including the issue of limits.
“A renewed opportunity to deepen the special bonds of friendship and cooperation between our two countries,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said on Twitter ahead of the ModiDeuba talks in April.
Nepal is important to India in the context of its overall strategic interests in the region, and the leaders of the two countries have often referred to the longstanding “Roti Beti” relationship.
The landlocked country in the Himalayas shares a more than 1,850 km long border with the five Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. Nepal is heavily dependent on India for the transportation of goods and services.