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

11 Oct 2015 News
Translating Koshi Basin Programme research into actionable policies

  Discussions on the preliminary findings of a recent socio-economic survey conducted on 1,600 households in 11 districts around the Koshi ...

28 Jan 2016 KSL
China, India, and Nepal Keen on Creating a Trans-boundary UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Kailash Sacred Landscape

There is interest in creating a transboundary.United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site (UNESCO WHS). in the ...

30 Jun 2017 News
Upper Indus Basin Network and Indus Forum Collaboration Meeting

The key objective of the joint meeting was to synergize the efforts of institutions and individuals affiliated to the Upper ...

24 Aug 2018 Himalica
ICIMOD Delegates Share Experiences and Lessons from Himalica in Myanmar

Key results, experiences, and lessons learnt from the European Union-funded Support to Rural Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation in the ...

15 Mar 2016 KSL
Thematic Tourism Routes Foster Regional Collaboration and Prosperity

During the 23rd edition of the South Asia’s Tourism and Travel Show (SATTE) 2016 by the United Nations World Tourism Organizations ...

11 Feb 2020 Atmosphere Initiative
Reliable data generation through improved air quality monitoring skills within the HKH

Rising emissions of air pollutants from urban, industrial, and rural sources have been steadily affecting the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) ...

5 Jul 2017 News
Cause and Impact: The 2015 Lemthang Tsho GLOF in Bhutan

The report is based on findings of a joint field assessment carried out by experts from the International Centre for ...

12 Oct 2015 News
Team visits climate smart Indian cardamom farms

  Wanting to know more about sustainable management practices of cardamom produc-tion, a team of six from the International Centre for ...