Lankan PM begins India visit on September 14

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be in New Delhi on a three-day visit from September 14 to 16, according to reliable sources. Wickremesinghe will be having meetings with Indian leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 15 and leave the next day. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will be visiting India from October 8 to 10. That visit is linked to promoting Buddhism as a link between Asian countries, sources said. Prime Minister Modi, hailing from the ancient Buddhist center of Vadnagar in Gujarat, is an ardent advocate of Buddhism and since 2012, has been trying to promote his native state of Gujarat as an ancient Buddhist center which ought to be part of the Asian Buddhist pilgrimage and tourist circuits. Modi was the keynote speaker at an international Hindu-Buddhist conference on September 3 in New Delhi. The "Global Hindu-Buddhist Initiative on conflict avoidance and environment consciousness", was addressed by former Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga also. Speaking at the conference Kumaratunga said: " To avoid conflicts, it is important to ensure equality in the treatment of ethnic groups. And when confronted with conflicts, it is essential to go into the basic causes of the unrest and disaffection and address them." The conference was organized by the Vivekananda International Foundation, an organization close to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Kumaratunga met Modi on the sidelines of the conference. (The New Indian Express)