This week a senior journalist with this paper went to interview the Foreign Minister Dasho Dr Tandi Dorji on an issue that pertains to his ministry. The minister who said he was busy agreed to give five minutes to the journalist, but did not have any concrete answers to the …

WASHINGTON, DC – When Edmundo, a waste picker in Peru, caught COVID-19, he had to take out a bank loan to pay for his visit to the clinic. Many of his colleagues also fell ill and subsequently went into debt, desperately seeking loans, emptying their savings, and selling their land …

If one takes a look at the numerous Audit reports and even ACC investigation reports over the years, then a common thread of weak internal controls will string them all together. Be it an accountant or junior official siphoning off a few hundred thousands in a remote area to major …

NEW YORK – We are at the halfway point for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (from 2015 to 2030), but we are not halfway to achieving them. In fact, in many critical areas – from poverty to food security – progress has been reversed in recent years, owing to severe and compounding crises. In …

Incoming tourists can now visit the Bhutan National Bank (BNB) counter at the Paro International Arrival Terminal to download the MyPay Wallet App available on both Android and IOS operating systems. The Bhutanese SIM cards can be bought at the TashiCell or Bhutan Telecom counters located at the exit gate …

Bhutan is set to graduate from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) category of the poorest and most vulnerable countries by December 2023. This comes at a time when Bhutan is facing a series of crises like an economic crisis, depleting reserves, huge migration outwards of its professionals and youths and …

Doha, 9 March – The Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5) in Doha, Qatar ended today with member states committing to measures to deliver on the Doha Programme of Action, a ten-year plan to put the world’s 46 most vulnerable countries back on track to achieving …

We have all been talking and debating about the large numbers of youths and professionals headed to Australia in recent times. It is now time to accept that this is Bhutan’s biggest crisis in recent times. It is also important to note that the loss is not only to Australia …

MUNICH – In the year since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the war has evolved in ways few predicted. The conventional wisdom was that Russian forces would quickly overwhelm the overmatched Ukrainians and take possession of much more of the country than they gained in 2014. Others went …

Most of us have seen enough clichéd Hollywood movies expounding on the incredible power of hope against all odds. However, it is particularly relevant to us in these gloomy times as droves of people leave for foreign shores and businesses are not doing great. There is almost a national depression …