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

16 May 2019 Cryosphere
When the levee breaks: Reducing GLOF risks through dam breach modelling

Given the Koshi basin’s susceptibility to disasters, many communities near the Koshi River are constantly at risk. In a bid ...

12 Oct 2015 News
Scientists assess wetland ecosystems services on top of the world

  In August 2015, a team consisting of experts from China’s Yunnan Institute of Environmental Sciences and ICIMOD carried out a ...

25 Jun 2018 SERVIR-HKH
Capacity building on Earth observation leads to Afghanistan’s first glacier inventory

In Afghanistan, glaciers serve as the headwaters of the Amu Darya River Basin and contribute to the Indus River Basin. ...

Community-based flood early warning: First national-level hands-on training in Pakistan

In collaboration with the Pakistan Meteorological Department, WWF-Pakistan, and Burraq Integrated ...

8 Sep 2015 News
A Paramount Rural Experience

Traveling to the remote far western district of Darchula for the first time put me in a state of pandemonium ...

24 Sep 2015 Forests
Improved methods to measure forest above-ground biomass in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region through satellites

The study of forest above-ground biomass (AGB) for estimating the carbon stock in each tree is important, as it is ...

8 Jun 2016 News
ICIMOD Meets with President of Nepal

ICIMOD along with key government organisations in the water supply sector were invited by the President of Nepal, Right Honorable ...

26 Jul 2018 DFAT Brahmaputra
Bhutanese Foresters Trained in Spring Revival and Springshed Management

WMD is collaborating with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) to build capacity for reviving drying springs in ...