By IANS,
Patna : Pakistan’s High Commissioner Salman Bashir met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar here Thursday ahead of his visit to Pakistan next month, an official said.
After meeting Nitish Kumar at his official residence, Bashir said Pakistan was fascinated by Bihar’s turnaround story.
“There is a lot of interest in Pakistan about Bihar’s success story,” the envoy said at a press conference here.
“It is a fact that Bihar is a very important state of India. We are keen to develop a closer link with Bihar and other states for mutual cooperation,” he said.
“I must say that I’m impressed by the development that has taken place in Bihar, particularly in Patna,” he said.
Nitish Kumar will head a high-level delegation of ministers and officials to Pakistan Nov 9-16 at the invitation of some provincial chief ministers there, officials said.
An official in the Chief Minister’s Office said that during his hour-long meeting with Nitish Kumar, the envoy spoke about the upbeat mood in Pakistan over the chief minister’s visit.
“The chief minister informed the high commissioner about development and changes that have taken place in the state,” he said.
In August, a Pakistani delegation, during a visit to Bihar, extended an invitation to Nitish Kumar on behalf of Pakistani Punjab’s Chief Minister Mohammad Shahwaz Sharif, brother of former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, to visit the neighbouring country.
Earlier, former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad had visited Pakistan.