Modi to visit SL next year

Thursday, 8 September 2016 00:18 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Sri Lanka in May 2017, Sri Lankan Health Minister and Cabinet spokesperson Rajitha Senaratne has said.

Prime Minister Modi will visit Sri Lanka to inaugurate a hospital being built with the assistance from India and also to participate in an event at Colombo, Minister Senaratne has told The Hindu, following the weekly cabinet briefing today.

The events will be held around Vesak, one of the most important Buddhist festivals celebrated in Sri Lanka.

The 150-bed hospital is being built in Hatton in the Central Province under grant assistance of Government of India at an estimated cost of Rs. 1.2 billion for the benefit of the Indian-origin plantation workers.

In March 2015, Modi was in Sri Lanka - the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister in 28 years. He was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the Jaffna in the island’s Tamil-majority Northern Province.

Health Minister Senaratne said he also discussed the possible import of medicines from India with his counterpart, J. P. Nadda, who is in Sri Lanka for a summit organised by the World Health Organization. The two health ministers held a yoga session at Galle Face Green Wednesday morning.