Nepal and India on Thursday announced Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Lumbini on May 16.

“At the invitation of the Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, will pay an official visit to Lumbini, May 16, 2022,” Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “The prime minister of India will attend a special ceremony on the auspicious occasion of Buddha Jayanti in Lumbini.”

This is Modi’s fifth visit to Nepal since he was first elected prime minister of India in 2014, and the first since he was re-elected in 2019.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay an official visit to Lumbini on May 16, 2022 on the occasion of Buddha Purnima at the invitation of the Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

During his hours-long stay in Lumbini, Modi will visit the sacred Mayadevi temple to offer prayers. He is also scheduled to deliver an address at a Buddha Jayanti event organised by the Lumbini Development Trust under the aegis of the Government of Nepal.

“Separately, the prime minister will participate in the ‘shilanyas’ ceremony for the construction of a centre for Buddhist culture and heritage, in a plot belonging to the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), New Delhi within the Lumbini Monastic Zone,” the Indian statement added.

Deuba and Modi will also hold a bilateral meeting.

“While in Lumbini, the two prime ministers will hold bilateral talks and exchange views on Nepal-India cooperation and matters of mutual interests,” said the Foreign Ministry.

Nepal is likely to ask India to build the West Seti hydro-electricity project in the far-western Nepal.

The day Modi will fly to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha, from Kushinagar, where Buddha attained nirvana, Nepal’s second international airport, the Gautam Buddha International Airport, will also officially come into operation.

Modi, however, is taking a chopper and won’t land at the new airport, in what some observers have said Nepal’s diplomatic failure as the Indian prime minister landing at the new airport could have helped in its international marketing.

“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,” the Foreign Ministry said.