Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa will visit the Buddhist monastery of Chabahil (Charumati) in Kathmandu on the sidelines of the 18th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit to be held in the Nepal capital later this month.
President Rajapaksa, according to the Colombo Page web site, is scheduled to pray at the monastery. The web site quoted a report of the Himalayan Times, as saying so.
The Charumati Monastery has been a symbol of historic relations between Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Charumati, a daughter of Emperor Ashoka who set up the Monastery 2,300 years ago, brought Buddhism to Nepal while Sanghamitra and son Mahendra brought Buddhism to Sri Lanka.
This is President Rajapaksa's second visit to Nepal. The President and the First lady visited Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha in 2009.
Nepal will host the 18th SAARC Summit in Kathmandu from November 22-27.
