KATHMANDU: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived here today on a three-day official visit.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sujata Koirala and Minister for Constituent Assembly, Federal Affairs, Parliamentary System and Culture, Dr Minendra Rijal, received President Rajapaksa at the Tribhuwan International Airport, this afternoon. President Rajapaksa declined to make a comment on his visit when queried at the airport. During his stay in Nepal, Rajapaksa will meet his Nepali counterpart Dr Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, DPM Koirala and other senior officials.

He is scheduled to pay a visit to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, to inaugurate a Vihar there, tomorrow. In March, he had cut short his trip to Nepal due to an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan.

Likewise, UCPN-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal today meet president Rajapaksa this evening.