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

A more efficient brick sector through collaboration and mitigation actions

At the second Policy and Advocacy Network Asia (PAN) meeting on 20 and 21 June 2019, ICIMOD provided government representatives ...

8 Mar 2018 Gender in Koshi
Women and Fieldwork: Reclaiming public spaces and transgressing curfews

Women’s Day brings into focus women situated at various intersections of class, age, caste, race, education, culture, and geographical location. ...

25 Dec 2015 Himalica
P3DM in Myanmar

  A training on Participatory 3-Dimensional Model (P3DM) building was held in Letmaungwe, Kyaung Taung Village, Nyaung Shwe Township in Myanmar ...

9 Aug 2017 Himalica
Regional Conference on Mountain Agriculture Kicks Off in Kathmandu, Nepal

He said, "Some messages coming out of the Himalica experience are very clear. Improving farmers', especially women farmers', access to ...

Tourism beyond borders: Stakeholders discuss opportunities for cross-border tourism at the Fifth Asian Rural Tourism Festival

As the Government of Nepal launches its Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, communities in eastern Nepal will have an additional appeal ...

31 Jul 2017 Himalica
Smarter Cardamom Farming Using SMS Advisories

Presently, more than 200 cardamom farmers subscribe to the service. Almost every day, they receive SMS advisories in the Nepali ...

30 Jul 2015 News
Using tablets for real-time data collection

Socio-economic data collection through household surveys need huge investment in time, human resource, and cost. When one of these is ...

7 Feb 2019 RMS
Myanmar delegation visits Nepal to learn about community forestry practices

Myanmar has developed Community Forestry Strategic Action Plan 2018–2030 to address forest degradation and improve the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities ...