The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Foreign Minister Dr Tandi Dorji said that there is a major difference in the base price of fuels between Bhutan, India and Nepal which goes up to Nu 30 to Nu 26 per liter.
He said Bhutan is doing its own analysis before renewing the MoU with the fuel companies in India that expired in 2020 due to the pandemic.
The minister said that the Indian government does not dictate the oil prices as it is done by the PSU Oil Companies in India. He said that the issue is more at the oil companies level and the MoU will be an opportunity to renegotiate some of these details.
The minister said the MoEA will be submitting a report to the MFA by next week and then the MFA will take it up. He said the MoEA Minister Lyonpo Loknath Sharma already met the IOC in Kolkata.
The MOEA Minister said that the whole of the government is collaborating on the issue and before the matter is taken up with the GoI, Bhutan should be well prepared to know the costs of fuel and what we really want. He said for this a lot of exercise should be done.
The minister said that they are not comfortable with the data and break up given to them so far by the IOC.
The Prime Minister Dasho Dr Lotay Tshering said that Bhutan should argue the merits of its own case instead of comparing with other countries. He said that Bhutan and India are two friendly countries with no politics in between, and the leaders of the two countries have been trusting each other for decades.
The PM wondered aloud of there was something more to the official prices, and if something else was happening on the ground between the companies.
