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

14 Jun 2016 Water and air
Spring Management in Darchula

At daybreak, the villagers, mostly women and children, come out carrying containers of different shapes and sizes. They walk to ...

12 May 2015 News
The International Glacier symposium in Kathmandu

  The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) through its Cryosphere Initiative hosted the first International Glacier Symposium (IGS) in ...

Bhutan’s first training on Google Earth Engine

The Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform is increasingly finding acceptance across academic, business, non-profit, and government users for scientific analysis ...

Draft FABKA roadmap highlights future as an independent legal entity

Also in October 2019, members conducted the 4th FABKA meeting in Pokhara where, following rigorous discussions, a roadmap was developed ...

24 Feb 2021 News
Deepening regional cooperation for climate action: HKH High-Level Task Force convenes

The first meeting of the HKH High-Level Task Force took place virtually on 22 February 2021. ...

12 Oct 2015 HKPL
Highland festival brings Pakistan and China region together

Along the border of China and Pakistan, some fifteen thousand feet above sea level at Khunjerab pass, more than 5,000 ...

27 Jun 2016 News
Pilot Projects Achieve Targets in Upper Indus Basin

A review and planning meeting was held in Islamabad on 7 June, 2016 on two projects underway ...

13 Jun 2017 Atmosphere Initiative
Creating New Data Sets for Emissions Inventory

In Nepal, many community forests are involved in the production of charcoal from forest materials generated from the annual cutting ...