India and Bhutan agreed to discuss new routes of regional connectivity, and upgrade border and immigration posts to support Bhutan’s 5th King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck’s plans for a smart city at Gelephu on the border between Bhutan and Assam, after his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Monday. While no mention was made of India’s overhanging concerns over Bhutan’s boundary delimitation agreement process with China, the Ministry of External Affairs said the two leaders “held discussions on the entire gamut of bilateral cooperation and regional and global issues of mutual interest”.
Apart from a decision to go ahead with the final survey for the 58 km cross-border rail link between Gelephu and Kokrajhar in Assam to be built by India, the two sides agreed to explore a second rail link for about 18 km between Samtse in Bhutan and Banarhat in West Bengal tea gardens area. India also agreed to allowing Bhutanese trade items to be carried further on from Haldibari in West Bengal to Chilahati in Bangladesh. The rail connectivity could in the future assist air connectivity for Indians in the northeast as well, as Bhutan plans to build an international airport at Gelephu as part of the larger Sarpang district Special Economic Zone, new initiative expected to be announced by the Bhutanese King on December 17.
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