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

30 Dec 2015 Himalica
Developing Community-led Micro-plans for Improving Livelihoods and Climate Change Adaptation

As a strategy for ensuring the sustainability of Himalica pilot interventions on livelihood improvement and climate change adaptation, Himalica supported ...

4 Feb 2016 News
No Entitlement: Living on Borrowed Flood Lands

When our HIAWARE research team visited the small Bihari village in early February, we found Chharki’s streets lined with bamboo cottages ...

7 Aug 2017 Himalica
Options to Strengthen Agricultural Practices and Technologies in the Midhills of Nepal

Speaking at the inaugural session of the event, Dila Ram Bhandari, Director General of the Department of Agriculture (DoA), said, ...

17 Nov 2016 News
ICIMOD Party to Beijing Declaration on the Belt and Road Initiative

The First International Science Forum of National Scientific Organizations on the Belt and Road Initiative was held in Beijing, China ...

30 Sep 2016 News
Training Offers Experiential look into Innovative Livelihoods

An arc of rainbow, light drizzle, heavy showers, lush vegetation, clean streams, waterfalls, shining mountain ranges, misty mornings, leeches, and ...

7 Jul 2017 News
ICIMOD DG Stresses South South Learning in National Science Foundation of China meeting

Molden addressed the importance of South-South learning to common regional mountain issues such as climate change and adaptation, mountain hazards ...

26 Feb 2015 News
Collaborative research needed to enhance policy on freshwater ecosystem

About 40 senior professors, researchers and policy makers stressed the importance of the Koshi ...

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 ...