Modi in Colombo Today

Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will be in Colombo today and tomorrow to participate in celebrations marking UN ‘Vesak Day’.

He will arrive on a special Air India flight from New Delhi at the Bandaranaike International Airport at 5. 30 p.m.

He is expected to proceed to the Gangaramaya Temple in Slave Island for a lamp lighting ceremony tomorrow night and will take in the Vesak decorations in and around the Gangaramaya. He will be spending the night at the Presidential suite of the five star Taj Samudra, Indian High Commission Spokesman Niteen Yeola said.

Premier Modi will also be the Chief Guest at the ‘International Day of Vesak’ event and at the International Buddhist Conference at the BMICH tomorrow. Over 400 delegates from more than 100 countries will participate. He will also deliver the Chief Guest’s address at the conference on the theme of Vesak.

Modi will then fly by an Indian Air Force helicopter to Dickoya – Norwood, on Friday where he will declare open a hospital which was constructed on an Indian credit line during the tenure of President Maithripala Sirisena as Health Minister in the former Rajapaksa Government.

Following the opening of the Dickoya Hospital, he will visit the Sri Dalada Maligawa where the sacred tooth relic will be exhibited for him to pay homage. He will also open a Kandyan Dance Academy, also in Kandy and fly back to the BIA by the Indian Air Force helicopter and will thereafter return to New Delhi.

This is Premier Modi’s second visit to Sri Lanka following his maiden visit in May 2015.