Bhutan PM Tobgay’s India visit to focus on bilateral pacts, development and connectivity projects

New Delhi is keen to discuss progress in China-Bhutan boundary talks that had made considerable headway under the previous Bhutanese government

A file photo of Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay. | Photo Credit: PTI

Bhutan’s Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay will arrive in Delhi next week, in his first visit abroad since he took over office in January this year, sources confirmed to The Hindu.

The visit, which is expected to be amongst the Modi government’s last few high-level diplomatic engagements before the election process begins, will focus on bilateral agreements, development and connectivity projects, including plans for a major economic hub in Gelephu. In addition, New Delhi is keen to discuss progress in China-Bhutan boundary talks that had made considerable headway under the previous Bhutanese government.

According to the sources, Mr. Tobgay, who was Prime Minister earlier from 2013-2018, will arrive in Delhi for an official visit from March 13-17. Mr. Tobgay had lost during a primary vote in 2018 but won with a massive majority in general elections held on January 9, where his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won 30 of 47 seats in the legislature. He will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for delegation-level talks focused on India’s promise of enhanced support for Bhutan’s 13th Five-Year Plan, as well as specific border infrastructure and connectivity projects that Mr. Modi and Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck had announced after their meetings in Delhi last year. Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra visited Thimphu in January, soon after Mr. Tobgay took charge, and Bhutanese Foreign Secretary Aum Pema Choden visited Delhi earlier this month to discuss progress on more than 80 joint initiatives and 500 high impact community development projects in areas of “education, health, digital development, capacity development, law, infrastructure, trade, agriculture, sports and culture” that have been successfully implemented by the two countries in Bhutan, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Gelephu project

Mr. Modi was also due to make a visit to Bhutan, said officials, but were unsure if his schedule would permit it before elections are announced here, due to be held in April and May. Of particular interest for Bhutan is India’s support to the ambitious “Gelephu Mindfulness City” project launched by the Bhutanese King in December 2023, which will require Indian assistance with rail and roadways connecting up to Gelephu that borders Assam, and upgrading Gelephu airport to facilitate international flights.

Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar had also travelled to Guwahati, as well as to Mumbai to meet various industrialists and health and hotel infrastructure magnates, apart from his travel to several other countries to discuss investments in the project. During his visit, Mr. Tobgay is expected to take forward the talks for Gelephu, seen as a critical initiative to shore up the Bhutanese economy that has been hit by the pandemic and to stem “out-migration” by young Bhutanese students and professionals who are travelling overseas in large numbers in search of jobs. “We have to reverse this trend by creating opportunities within Bhutan,” Mr. Tobgay had told The Hindu in an interview in December, when asked about the importance of the Gelephu project.

Meanwhile, New Delhi has followed developments in Bhutan-China boundary resolution talks that include areas around the Doklam plateau to Bhutan’s west, given their proximity to the Siliguri corridor, and would hope to be briefed on how the new government in Thimphu will take forward the talks. During his previous tenure, Mr. Tobgay’s government had also taken the talks ahead, holding the 24th round of talks in 2016, when then Bhutanese Foreign Minister Damcho Dorji had travelled to Beijing and endorsed “joint technical field survey of the disputed areas in the western sector “. After the stand-off between the Indian Army and PLA soldiers at Doklam in 2017, Bhutan-China talks had slowed. However, they sped up in the past two years, and after the 25th round of talks in Beijing in October 2023, a joint statement issued after Bhutanese and Chinese Foreign Ministers met, said they want a deal on demarcating the boundaries “soon”, as the two sides signed a cooperation agreement on the process.