Back to news
12 Sep 2017 | News

Strengthening Ties with the Private Sector in Bhutan

Delegates from the Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), a private sector body comprising of members from the Bhutanese business community, visited the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) headquarters in Kathmandu on 30 August 2017.

The visit was the first BCCI exposure trip organized outside Bhutan. It followed the June 2017 signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between BCCI and ICIMOD. The MoU was a commitment to strengthening private sector engagement in Bhutan through collaborative action in relation to ongoing BCCI and ICIMOD activities.

1 min Read

70% Complete
BCCI representatives at ICIMOD Photo Credit: Utsav Maden/ICIMOD

ICIMOD is committed to collaborating with private sector bodies in the Hindu Kush Himalaya to ensure sustainable development in the region. The delegation of more than 40 Bhutanese dzongkhag (district) representatives was headed by BCCI Secretary General Phub Tshering.

Basanta Shrestha, Director Strategic Cooperation, ICIMOD, welcomed the delegates. In his remarks, Shrestha stressed on the importance of fostering close collaborations with various businesses in Bhutan to upscale and improve the livelihoods of mountain people. BCCI Secretary General Tshering said that the BCCI and ICIMOD can work together to strengthen sustainable business opportunities and improve livelihoods in Bhutan. He said, “BCCI is confident that ICIMOD is the perfect partner for us. It will help us gain technical knowledge on value chains and market linkages, capacity building for mountain communities, and enterprise development for agro-based small- and medium-scale enterprises.”

Tshering emphasized that the partnership with ICIMOD would help Bhutan create business leaders who are agents for change in the future. Following the remarks, BCCI delegates had an insightful interaction session with ICIMOD colleagues working with various initiatives where they learned about the various ICIMOD activities in Bhutan. The session provided the delegates an opportunity to understand and explore the areas for future collaboration with ICIMOD.


Phub Tshering, Secretary General of BCCI, speaking to BCCI and ICIMOD representatives
Photo Credit: Utsav Maden/ICIMOD

As part of their business exposure visit, the BCCI delegates also visited the ICIMOD Knowledge Park in Godavari to learn about innovative technologies, mountain farming, and other practices that useful for sustainable development.

Stay current

Stay up to date on what’s happening around the HKH with our most recent publications and find out how you can help by subscribing to our mailing list.

Sign Up

Related content

Continue exploring this topic

10 Jul 2018 CBFEWS
Local Communities Take Ownership of Flood Early Warning System

ICIMOD, partners, and local governments have come together to save lives from flash flooding by installing eleven such community-based flood ...

22 May 2019 Livelihoods
Regional cooperation for tourism development: High-level dialogue on promoting India–Nepal cross-border tourism, trade, and industry

Cross-border tourism and regional cooperation are priority areas of the KLCDI – part of its overarching goal to further landscape-level ...

17 Jul 2017 News
A Milestone for Local Water Management in the Koshi Basin

The local community in Saptari, a district in the Terai region of Nepal, is elated with news that their local ...

11 Dec 2015 Water
Springshed Management in the Himalayas

ICIMOD in association with The Mountain Institute, India and Rural Management and Development Department (Dhara Vikas Programme) Govt. of Sikkim ...

25 May 2015 News
Bhutanese farmers learn livestock and vegetable value chain in Nepal

The Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation (Himalica) programme has been implementing a pilot project in Barshong Geog ...

River Basins in the Age of Federalism

Effective management of river basins for multiple benefits, such as the availability of water for domestic use, agriculture, and energy, ...

8 Apr 2016 News
Landscape Journey in Myanmar

A multidisciplinary team was organised in the Mu Lar-Nam Ru watershed area of Putao district in Kachin, Myanmar late February ...

26 Feb 2016 KSL
Access and Benefit Sharing Between Nepal and India

As part of transboundary cooperation within Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiatives (KSLCDI), the International Centre for Integrated Mountain ...