Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 9
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make his first visit to Thimphu, after the eye-ball-to-eye-ball confrontation with the Chinese army had broken out on the Doklam plateau in 2017 near the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction.
“We will review defence and security matters, including the situation on the Bhutan-China border,’’ Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told newspersons here today.
A security review and talks on furthering cooperation in the hydel sector will be the mainstays of PM Modi’s interaction with the King of Bhutan and Prime Minister Lotay Tshering. But the visit will also see steps to diversify the relationship and bolster old linkages such as Bhutanese students studying in India that was showing a downward trend, Gokhale said.
The Prime Minister will arrive in Bhutan on August 17 and call on Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. He will also hold delegation-level talks with his Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering whom he had met here on May 31. He will return the next day after a lunch hosted by the King.
PM Modi will inaugurate the Mangdechhu hydropower project and hold talks on the gigantic 2,560 mw Sankosh hydel project costing over Rs 5,000 crore that the Foreign Secretary hoped would become the crown jewel in India’s hydel cooperation with Bhutan.
Of interest would be PM Modi’s visit to the Royal University of Bhutan which will be followed by MoUs to establish linkages between learning centres of both countries, especially in science, maths and technology in order to reverse the trend of fewer Bhutanese students opting to study in India. “The government has observed the falling trend. There were more students from the earlier generation. We will be taking concrete measures in this regard,’’ Gokhale observed.
In order to diversify the relationship, New Delhi has allocated Rs 400 crores as trade support facility to encourage Bhutanese industrialists to export more to India. The Prime Minister will also inaugurate a ground earth station built by the ISRO which will help the kingdom utilise a transponder on SAARC satellite for Bhutan Broadcasting Service and disaster management.
The Prime Minister will green-light the commencement of the Ru pay card that will allow Indian visitors to make payments in rupees. Bhutan will be the second country after Singapore where this card will become operational.
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via Today’s News Headlines
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