The Prime Minister of Bhutan, Jigmi Thinley will visit India from February 7-9, following an invitation extended by the Indian government to the Bhutanese government. He will be accompanied by Bhutan’s Foreign Minister and Finance Minister, Lyonpo Wangchuk, and Foreign Secretary, Yeshey Dorji, among others. During this three-day visit, the high level delegation will meet and hold discussions with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.
The two sides are expected to deliberate on areas of bilateral engagement, which include the progress of India’s 11th Five Year Plan, cooperation in the hydropower sector, and Bhutan’s 10th Five Year Plan, to name a few.
This is the third bilateral visit between New Delhi and Thimphu in 2013. In January alone, there were two bilateral visits between India and Bhutan. The India Foreign Minister, Salman Khurshid visited Bhutan from January 14-15, where he expressed the need for the India-Bhutan relations to move from “development partnership to economic partnership.” Additionally, the King of Bhutan was the chief guest at India’s 65th Republic Day, the fourth time since 1954, during his state visit from 23-30 January.
Historically, New Delhi and Thimphu have shared robust bilateral relations. India is Bhutan’s largest trade and development partner, and hydropower forms an important sector of cooperation. According to India’s 10th Five Year Plan, India has committed to assistance of Rs. 3400 crores to Bhutan. Both governments have also set the target of achieving a hydropower capacity of 10,000 Megawatts by 2020.
Strengthening the warm relationship with Bhutan is even more important now, as its border talks with China – regarding Chumbi Valley, which lies dangerously close to the Siliguri Corridor, India’s only link to its North-Eastern states – with strategic implications for us, are again in the news. Evidently, New Delhi is trying its best to avert putting the security of the region in jeopardy, by escalating its engagement with the strategically important neighbour.