Venue: Maurya Hotel, Patna, Capital of Bihar
Date: February 17-19
Six plenary sessions and 11 workshops, spread across five medium and small conference halls in the three-star hotel, attracted 175 delegates from 24 countries, who deliberated on how to accelerate Bihar’s development in all walks of life.
Global Bihar Summit – Inaugural Session
Visiting Nepalese PM Dr Baburam Bhattarai, who led a 17-member delegation, inaugurated the session in capital of Bihar. During his hour-long speech, he showed keen interest in strengthening ties with India, particularly with Bihar, which has a sprawling land-locked border with Nepal. He called for a joint venture to harness the Himalayan nation’s huge hydro-power and tourism potential for the benefit of both the countries. He said that Nepal needed to “leapfrog from poverty to prosperity” if it were to ensure double-digit economic growth in the near future.
Dr Bhattarai rebutted a gradual approach to transformation of the economy, underscoring the need for massive investments in key sectors. He said economic integration was the key to the progress of the backward South Asian countries, and pointed out that in spite of abundant natural resources Nepal remained among the most backward regions in the world today.
Emphasising the strong bond between Bihar and Nepal, CM Nitish Kumar remarked that there was natural symbiosis between people of the two regions.
“Our problems are interlinked and despite some issues at the administrative level, the feeling among the people of Bihar and Nepal is one of intense amity,” he said.
Kumar also shared the sentiments of Dr Bhattarai and said that Bihar leadership would do its best to convince Union government for strengthening the relationship with Nepal, which was crucial for Bihar. He said, “Nepal holds the key to many troubles besetting Bihar. At the political level, they may be separate entities but at popular level, Bihar and Nepal are similar and their sufferings and problems are too similar,” he said. “Without Nepal’s help we can’t address our problems. Somehow we (Bihar and Nepal) are associated with each other. We know our problems and understand them better. We have to work together for our progress with a formal understanding,” he added.
“Nepal’s Prime Minister’s presence in this event signifies that together we can solve our problems. We have lot many social and cultural similarities, Nepal is a part of Bihar,” Kumar said.
The CM again referred to his demand that the Centre give special status to Bihar to make it a developed state.
“I want to score a point that the central government should not give any financial package to Bihar. What we need is that the Centre accords us a special status. It will pave the way for further development and investments,” Kumar said.
“People’s dream of the old glorious Bihar is now becoming a reality. Now, everyone is expecting more and more from us. We have changed the image of the state during the past seven years of our rule. A lot of work has been done, but a lot more is required to be done,” he lauded.
