Fascinated by Bihar's success story, says Pakistan

Pakistan is fascinated by Bihar's turnaround story under Chief  Minister Nitish Kumar, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir told mediapersons in Patna on Thursday.

Bashir said this after meting Kumar at his official residence in the state capital. Among other things, he also discussed Kumar's upcoming visit to Pakistan.

Bashir added that 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 am impressed by the development that has taken place in Bihar, particularly in Patna," Bashir also said.

Nitish Kumar will head a high-level delegation of state ministers and officials to Pakistan from November 9 to16 at the invitation of some provincial chief ministers there, officials said.

In August, a Pakistani delegation which had visited Bihar extended invitation to Kumar on behalf of Pakistani Punjab Chief Minister Mohammad Shahwaz Sharif, brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to visit that country.

Salman Bashir said that they pay a lot of importance to Nitish Kumar's visit to Pakistan. "It is going to be an important visit in terms of initiating a new chapter in cooperation between the two countries," he added.