Signalling the new Government’s resolve to engage with its neighbours on a priority basis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Kathmandu on Sunday. Modi will be the first PM to travel to Nepal at a bilateral level in 17 years after IK Gujral’s visit in 1997. The last Indian Prime Minister to visit Nepal was Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002 for a SAARC summit.”This shows the intention and priority that our Prime Minister places on the neighbourhood,” said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson for Ministry of External Affairs. Besides holding talks with Nepalese counterpart Sushil Koirala, Modi will also address Nepal’s Constituent Assembly. Modi will be the second foreign leader after former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in early 1990s, to address Nepal’s Constituent Assembly. Modi will also meet President Dr Ram Baran Yadav, and top leaders of various political parties in Nepal.During his two-day visit the two countries are expected to sign agreements in tourism and power sectors. It is learnt, India may announce an economic package for Nepal. Officials said the Government of India is amenable to the Nepali proposal for including lumbini in Indian Buddhist Tourist Circuit and creating a new `Nath’ (a name for Shiv) circuit linking Kedarnath- Badrinath-Somnath in India with Pashupatinath-Muktinath in Nepal. The Pioneer had reported on this last week. “Consultations will begin soon on how to go about this but the Indian Government’s response is very much positive,” said a senior official from the Ministry of External Affairs. The Ministry of Tourism has been asked to work out details.India is likely to take up the issue of flooding in Bihar with Kathmandu. “Flood control and river training are going to be part of discussions. India has given over `200 crores as help for embankment and flood control and we are ready to give more. But we need to have some real-time information sharing on the rivers, which as of now is not much,” said the official. Meanwhile, PM Modi will visit the famous 5th century Shiv temple Pashupatinath to perform a special prayer ceremony on the occasion of Srawan Somwar. Sources said the date of Modi’s visit was fixed keeping in mind the auspicious timing. last week, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had travelled to Kathmandu to do the groundwork for PM’s visit.