KATHMANDU: A total of 48 foreign delegates including mayors from five cities of different countries are arriving in Nepal today to observe Indra Jatra that falls on September 13 this year. Guests are from India, China, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Japan and the United States of America.
“Inviting foreign guests to attend the festival aims to promote ‘Visit Nepal Year 2020’, and the festival will help Nepali culture get exposed to the world,” said Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya.
They will observe the festival besides visiting various areas of the Kathmandu Valley, including Baha, Bahi, Lalitpur Metropolitan City and Bhaktapur Municipality, he said.
The visiting guests include the mayors of Lhasa in China, East Delhi Municipal Corporation and North Delhi Municipal in India and Dhaka South City Corporation in Bangladesh.
Likewise, other guests are high ranking officials from Shiyan, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Nanjing and Lanzhou City of China, Matsumoto of Japan, and Frederick Darren Berg and Boulder of the US.
On Friday, the guests will also be taken on a chariot around Hanuman Dhoka, said Shakya.
Likewise, they will take a view of the lower and upper village in the area on foot before observing the pulling of the chariot that is slated at noon on Friday in the presence of Nepal’s Head of the State, Bidhya Devi Bhandari.
They are also scheduled to visit Chandragiri Hills, Natural History Museum in Chhauni and Swayambhu on Saturday, and Bhaktapur and Patan Durbar Squares on Sunday. The delegation team will return on September 16.
Mayor Shakya also asked all people to make this festival a success. “Not only Newar community’s, but this is also a national festival,” he said.
This is the first time that Kathmandu Metropolitan City has invited foreign guests to attend Indra Jatra.
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