Monday, April 18, 2005

The governments of India and China have declared in an official memorandum on April 11 their intention to jointly construct an Indian-style Buddhist temple on the western side of the historic White Horse Temple, in Luoyang, Henan Province, China. The project is planned as part of an ongoing effort to increase the ties of friendship and shared culture between the two countries.

The memorandum came in a series of agreements between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during Jiabao’s state visit to India April 9-12 at Singh’s invitation.

India is expected to provide the funding, architectural design, landscape planning, a Buddha idol and other materials for the completed temple. China is offering to provide official cooperation and permits, and facilitate the travel of Indian architects and other construction experts to the site. The temple is planned to be located on 2,667 square meters of land provided by the Chinese government.