HEADLINE STORIES

Mr. President, Distinguished Delegates. I  bring warm greetings of His Majesty the Druk Gyalpo. Climate Change Distinguished Delegates. Today my thoughts are with the people of Mexico, who have suffered two terrible earthquakes this month. My thoughts are also with the victims of other natural disasters that have recently brought …

The government calculated Nu 14 bn as the loss of revenue in the 12th plan due to the doing away of the refundable excise duty by India under their new Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. However, industries say GST will also affect the profit margins of Bhutanese industries and …

Health Minister says even if corporatization happens ordinary citizens don’t have to pay for medical services at all An executive order was issued on 18th September by the Health Minister Lyonpo Tandin Wangchuk on the directions of the Prime Minister for the formation of an ‘independent and third party’ multi-sectoral …

If you plan to travel to Bangkok make sure to have a host of documents ready as the visa application rules to Thailand, which where lightly enforced before have become much stricter since last year. The Royal Thai Honorary Consulate in the capital now insists on the mandatory fulfillment of …

Ever since the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India, Bhutan’s main trading hub of Phuentsholing and neighboring Jaigaon has been in turmoil, especially with an understaffed and inadequately prepared Jaigaon Land Custom Station. This in fact led to more than 300 trucks being held up at …

The Bali declaration of 7th September 2017 in the World Parliamentary Forum meeting had 17 points on its stated agenda of Sustainable Development. However, what gathered the attention of the international and regional press was on the sole 10th point naming Myanmar and expressing concern over violence in Rakhine state. …

The Gross National Happiness Commission (GNHC) along with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is currently in the midst of reworking the revenue figures for the 12th plan which had earlier been projected at Nu 251 bn out of a plan size of Nu 300 bn. The GNHC Secretary Thinley Namgyel, …

India’s Central Electricity Authority (CEA) earlier this year cleared the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the 2,560 MW Sunkosh reservoir project. This is significant as Indian officials until recently have parried questions on the status of the mega reservoir project saying that the DPR is still with the CEA. Now …

When the Doklam crisis first hit the international headlines Bhutan’s worst fears had come true with the troops of two effective superpowers, India and China, facing off each other on Doklam, a disputed territory claimed by Bhutan. Bhutan, it seemed, had nothing to gain and everything to lose in this …

In Doklam stand-off, Bhutan once again came to the rescue of India’s interests, with costs to itself The Doklam stand-off, from the beginning, has been dominated by an India-and-China narrative, but a largely silent but firm Bhutan held some of the most important keys to the eventual resolution. It is …