According to The Bhutan Live, Bhutan’s Minister for Home and Cultural Affairs, H.E. Ugyen Dorji, India’s G20 presidency is a source of pride for the whole South Asian region, including Bhutan. On the eve of the fourth Y-20 consultation meeting in Pune, the minister made the remarks while inaugurating a cultural event.
Y20 is a platform for youth from all G20 member nations to discuss a variety of concerns. India and Bhutan have a particular bilateral connection, according to The Bhutan Daily. Bhutan receives the lion’s share of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) budget through Grants and Loans to Foreign Governments.
Bhutan would receive a total of 2,400.58 crores, of which 1,632.24 crores will be a “gift” and 768.34 crores will be a “loan” under the budgeted projections. Bhutan will get financial aid from India for a variety of development initiatives in health, digitalization, and other areas.
On February 28, the Royal Government of Bhutan and the Government of India hosted the 5th Bhutan-India Small Development Project (SDP)/High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP) Committee meeting for the 12th Five Year Plan (FYP) in Thimphu.
The Committee reviewed the progress of 524 projects being implemented in Bhutan’s 20 Dzongkhags and 4 Thromdes and approved Rs 850 Crore for local governments in areas such as water supply, urban infrastructure, agricultural roads, irrigation channels, bridges, health and education infrastructure, and so on. India has provided an initial contribution of 100 crore to the Gyalsung Programme to aid Bhutan’s youth in participating in nation-building.
The award was presented in a special ceremony by Indian Ambassador to Bhutan Sudhakar Dalela. Under its ‘Neighborhood First Strategy,’ India is anticipated to maintain its development aid collaboration with Bhutan as Thimpu expands its development agenda.
According to The Bhutan Live, India would continue to advocate themes that are important to developing nations while holding the G20 chair. Reforming international institutions, health, education, gender, climate, and the environment are all pressing challenges. While India’s foreign policy has long emphasised its ‘neighbourhood first’ strategy, it would use its G20 leadership to advance agendas while keeping the region’s greater interests in mind.
According to The Bhutan Live, India’s increasing startup ecosystem benefits Bhutan by providing more possibilities for emerging entrepreneurs to learn from experienced business professionals through the Bhutan-India Startup Summit.
In recent years, the Indian government has been aggressively working with Bhutan to integrate the two nations’ startup ecosystems. The Indian Embassy will host the first-ever Bhutan-India Entrepreneurship Summit in Thimphu in the final week of February 2020.
