The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Member of Parliament (MP) Norbu Wangzom of Jomotsangkha–Martshala constituency asked the Foreign Minister for an update on number of foreign relations established. She said, the government had pledged to establish foreign relations with five countries within their tenure.
Relations have been established with only two countries till date, and thereby, she questioned the minister to update the House on which three other countries the government is planning to establish foreign relations with.
Responding to the MP, Foreign Minister, Dr Tandi Dorji, said that the government conducted a research and decided to establish foreign relations with five countries. In 2020, the government was able to establish relations with Germany and Israel, which is going good for now.
However, he said, “The past two years have been tough on everyone, and we could not communicate well with other countries. Number is not important for now. What we need is relations that would be of help to us, and building a foreign relation would be important at times.”
The first government has established relation with 31 foreign countries, of which some were of great help to the country, while due to distance, some countries could not remain in good touch. The second government could establish none, he said, adding that if building foreign relation has a benefit then numbers should not really matter.
Establishing foreign relation is not that tough, and thereby, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the remaining one-year term, will relook into it and see the need of establishing relations.
“The number will differ as per the transformation of the country. Many countries are interested in establishing relations with us, but to what extent we will be benefitted, is questionable.”
