With a view to showcasing and projecting the Buddhist heritage and pilgrim sites of India, the Ministry of Tourism is organizing the “5th International Buddhist Conclave (from 2nd to 6th October 2016)” in Varanasi-Sarnath in collaboration with the State Governments of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Conclave will be inaugurated by Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister for Tourism & Culture on 2nd October, 2016 in New Delhi. 

This year’s International Buddhist Conclave is very special as ASEAN as a Guest of Honour partner and a large participation is expected from ASEAN Countries which are also major source markets for India in general and the Buddhist Heritage sites in particular.Participants in the Buddhist Conclave will include international Buddhist opinion makers, tour operators and media, as well as State Governments and domestic tour operators promoting pilgrimages to the Buddhist sites in the country. 

Ministry of Tourism has received over 250 nominations from 38 countries such as Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, |Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, USA and Vietnam for participation in the Conclave.