MYANMAR: Visit Nepal Year 2002 was promoted in the popular Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the capital city of Myanmar.

At a program on Wednesday, traditional Nepali lamp was jointly lit by Ambassador of Nepal to Myanmar Bhimkrishna Udas and Yangon’s Chief Minister Pyo Min Thein.

Shwedagon Pagoda is the most popular religious site in Myanmar where thousands of foreign and domestic tourists visit for meditation and worships.

On the occasion, Burmese of Nepali origin and Nepalis working in Myanmar were present. Likewise, the Embassy of Nepal in Myanmar distributed T-shirts with the logo of Visit Nepal Year, 2020.

At the program, Ambassador Udas said that Visit Nepal Year 2020 would be promoted in Myanmar the whole year by organizing different programs adding that this year also marks the 60 anniversary of the diplomatic ties between the two countries.

He expressed his pleasure for organizing such a publicity campaign from the popular pagoda in the first day of the New Year.

Similarly, the Chief Minister of Yangon Thein praised the contributions of Gurkha army of Nepali origin for the unification of Myanmar and added that visiting the birthplace of Lord Buddha was a dream of everyone in Myanmar. Thein also promised to send more and more people from his country to visit Nepal.

With more than 55 million population in Myanmar, the Buddhist religious community is nearly 90 percent there.