Kathmandu, 12 May: At the invitation of the Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, will pay an official visit to Lumbini, Nepal on 16 May 2022. The Prime Minister of India will attend the special ceremony on the auspicious occasion of Buddha Jayanti in Lumbini. The Prime Minister of India together with the Prime Minister of Nepal will participate in a prayer at the Mayadevi Temple, lay the foundation stone for the construction of a centre for Buddhist culture and heritage at the Monastic Zone in Lumbini, and address the special ceremony to be organized to celebrate Buddha Jayanti at the Lumbini International Buddhist Meditation Center and Assembly Hall. Dr. Narayan Khadka, Minister for Foreign Affairs, will call on Prime Ministerof India Shri Narendra Modi. While in Lumbini, the two Prime Ministers will hold bilateral talks and exchange views on Nepal-India cooperation and matters of mutual interests. The Prime Minister of Nepal will host a luncheon in honour of the Prime Minister of India and the visiting delegation. The upcoming visit of the Prime Minister of India will contribute to further strengthening the bilateral relations and the age-old socio-cultural bonds between the two countries. This will be the fifth visit of Narendra Modi to Nepal as the Prime Minister of  India. Meanwhile, South Bloc, issuing a press release has stated that Prime Minister Modi’s visit continues the tradition of regular high level exchanges between India and Nepal in furtherance of our Neighbourhood First policy. It underscores the shared civilizational heritage of the people of both countries. People's News Monitoring Service