Chief minister Nitish Kumar and Nepal Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai at the Global Bihar Summit-2012 in Patna on Friday. (PTI)

Patna, Feb. 17: Nepal Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai today called for a joint venture to harness his country’s huge hydro-power and tourist potential for the mutual benefit of both the Himalayan nation and India as he inaugurated the three-day global summit on changing Bihar.

“Let the land of Buddha and Asoka cooperate for the betterment of humanity in this south Asian region,” Bhattarai said, deliberating in detail how nature has made it imperative upon Nepal and Bihar — the state shares the longest border with the Himalayan nation — to work “together in harmony and cooperation”.

“Himalayan watershed feeds into most of the river systems of Bihar. This river system supports our life, makes our land rich in agriculture and gives basis for our other economic activities,” Bhattarai said. But he had a word of caution. “In bad times, the same water plays havoc and brings misery to lives of our people.”

Responding to chief minister Nitish Kumar’s advocacy for the management of the rivers originating from Nepal and flowing through Bihar, Bhattarai said: “We can make best use of the water potential only through positive cooperation and mitigate damages that our rivers sometime cause to us.”

Nitish, who is playing a pro-active role in bettering ties between India and Nepal, had no qualms admitting that relations with the neighbouring nation were crucial to Bihar. “Nepal holds the key to many of the troubles besetting Bihar. At the political level, they may be separate entities but at a popular level, Bihar and Nepal are similar and their sufferings and problems too are similar,” he said.

Bhattarai landed around noon in an army plane with a 17-member delegation that includes the vice-chairman of the Nepal Planning Commission, Bipendra Bhahadur Khatri, and the labour and tourism minister, Sarita Giri. While Bhattarai left for Nepal after inaugurating the event, taking place after a gap of five years, his delegation members stayed back to participate in the brainstorming sessions that will continue for the next two days.

Though Bhattarai praised Nitish for transforming Bihar into a “better-governed state”, he admitted that the region was backward. “In spite of abundant resources, both natural and human, we remain backward. This region is still known as the least developed region in the world,” Bhattarai said.

The three-day summit got under way with 175 delegates from as many as 24 countries from across the world converging to deliberate on the ways to step up the process of development — be it human resource, infrastructure, healthcare or education. Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia was among several experts on policy and planning from across the world present at the inaugural session at the packed SK Memorial Hall.

Seeing Ahluwalia around, Nitish again lobbed the demand for special category status. “I am not asking for financial help. I request the Planning Commission deputy chairman, who has been so kind to Bihar, to accord it special category status,” he said. Nitish’s reference to special status to Bihar at a global platform generated a smile on Ahluwalia’s face.

While accepting Bihar under Nitish as a “role model for economic advancement and social inclusion”, Bhattarai admitted that Nepal was going through unprecedented political transformation. “We are in the process of making a new republican constitution and restructuring the state on a federal basis,” Bhattarai said.

He hoped that what came out from the brainstorming sessions at the global summit would benefit his nation as well. Explaining the proximity between Nepal and Bihar, the Prime Minister said: “Nepal not only shares borders with Bihar but a significant portion of Nepal’s major industrial and economic centres are located around the border.”

Nitish rolled out the red carpet for Bhattarai. He went to the airport to receive the Nepal Premier. The chief minister and his cabinet colleagues also saw Bhattarai off at 5pm.