The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand, Yukol Limlamthong, reaffirmed his commitment to strengthen support to Bhutan in the areas of agriculture and cooperatives when he called on Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley at the Gyalyong Tshogkhang yesterday.
Deputy Prime Minister Yukol Limlamthong who arrived on a five-day visit, said although cooperation in areas of agriculture began years ago, he sees new areas to support the sector. He offered the Thai government’s assistance and support to enhance agriculture research and planning, to study soil quality and structure, and to develop production and marketing plans.
In a news release from the PM’s office Lyonchhen said Bhutan is deeply grateful to the government of Thailand for generously supporting Bhutan’s development process. He said that the technical cooperation and support for human resource development has been instrumental. However, with a majority of Bhutanese dependent upon agriculture, Lyonchhen said that Bhutan will greatly benefit from the Deputy Prime Minister’s offer to enhance Bhutan’s capacity to research soil, understand its nature and structure, and base plantation on the research.
“We want to improve the wellbeing of the farmers and the quality of life. To do that, livestock, agriculture productivity and marketing must improve,” Lyonchhen said.
He also welcomed the support and said they were very much in line with the Draft 11th five-year plan’s theme – Urban Wellbeing, Rural prosperity. Lyonchhen added that he was happy about the annual meetings between the foreign ministers of the two countries, starting this year, to discuss other areas to strengthen the relationship between the two nations.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests and Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Thailand was signed on 4 September, 2010.
