After postponing his visit to Bhutan due to bad weather on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, March 22, 2024, arrived in Paro, Bhutan for a 24-hour State visit. Mr. Modi was accorded a warm reception including the Guard of Honour. Mr. Modi will receive Bhutan’s highest civilian award, the Order of the Druk Gyalpo.
This is PM Modi’s first visit since the award was announced in 2021, which will be presented Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, in appreciation for his efforts towards strengthening India-Bhutan ties, and in particular India’s provision of the first round of 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in 2021.
The Prime Minister’s visit, that follows just a week after Bhutan PM Tshering Tobgay’s visit to Delhi is unusual, as by convention Prime Ministers forego bilateral visits after election dates have been scheduled. However, sources said, the gesture was meant to denote India’s commitment to Bhutan in particular and to the government’s “neighbourhood first” policy.
After landing in Thimphu on Friday, Mr. Modi will receive a ceremonial at the Tashichhodzong complex, and an audience with the Bhutanese King , who is then hosting a banquet in the PM’s honour. Mr. Modi will also hold talks with Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay who was in Delhi just last week, and will exchange signed MoUs that they have agreed upon including two on cooperation on energy conservation and food safety standards. On Friday morning, he will inaugurate a “Mother and Child Hospital” in Thimphu, one of a number of healthcare and referral facilities being developed in the Himalayan Kingdom that India has provided funding support for, before returning to Delhi.
Apart from bilateral ties, progress in Bhutan’s boundary talks with China are expected to be high on the agenda, especially plans for the disputed parts to Doklam in Bhutan’s West, that is close to the trijunction point with India; and Sakteng to Bhutan’s East, where China has recently raised boundary disputes, that abuts India’s plans to upgrade road infrastructure for Arunachal Pradesh. While Bhutan-China boundary talks focus only on areas to Bhutan’s west and north, China’s new claims to its East have raised fears that Beijing is using them to put pressure on Bhutan to fast-track the boundary talks or risk broadening the dispute areas.
According to reports that the MEA has declined to comment on, India has for now held back on construction of parts of the road between Bletting in Tawang and Doksum in Bhutan’s Trashigang dzongkhag (district) after a Bhutanese request. The 3-step roadmap process for China-Bhutan boundary negotiations received a boost in October 2023, when the previous Bhutan Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji travelled to Beijing to sign a “cooperation agreement” for a joint technical team (JTT) to complete the process, and New Delhi is now watching the new government under PM Tobgay, that was sworn in in January this year, for how it will approach talks with China. Given sensitivities around the issue, the MEA has thus far made little comment during the back-to-back visits this month. No press briefing has been held after Mr. Tobgay’s visit or ahead of Mr. Modi’s visit to Thimphu, and a joint statement issued in Delhi on March 16 said only that the two leaders had discussed “regional issues of mutual interest.”
Also on the agenda for talks in Thimphu are Bhutan’s plans for its 13th Five Year Plan (FYP 2024-2029), and its request for India’s development assistance for various projects including the ambitious new “Gelephu Mindfulness City” planned on Bhutan’s southern border with Assam.
“India’s development assistance will be geared towards the development of infrastructure, building connectivity in its broadest form which includes road, rail, air and digital connectivity, and in sectors like agriculture, healthcare, education, skilling and cultural preservation,” the joint statement in Delhi said, adding that PM Modi “appreciated” the Bhutanese King’s vision of the Gelephu Mindfulness City, expressing hope that it will lead to economic prosperity in Bhutan and in the region and “strengthen economic and investment linkages between India and Bhutan.”
India is Bhutan’s top trading partner, and in the past decade, India’s non-hydropower trade in goods with Bhutan has tripled from US$ 484 million to US$ 1.606 billion, government data showed, according to the MEA. For the previous 12th Five Year Plan, India’s contribution of In Rs 5000 Cr. (about US $600 mn) constitutes 73% of Bhutan’s total external grant component, the data showed.
