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

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 ...

17 May 2017 News
Using Geospatial tools Towards Effective Preparation of LAPAs

ICIMOD provides technical guidance and support on using geographic information system (GIS) tools in planning at the sub-watershed level to ...

4 Aug 2022 News
Enabling the most vulnerable to adapt to climate change

‘We lose sleep when it starts raining…’, said a community member in Saptari district, Nepal voicing a common concern of ...

16 Apr 2015 News
ICIMOD observes partnership with Myanmar

Greatly appreciating the Government of Myanmar’s partnership with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Minister U Win Tun ...

1 Mar 2015 News
Second Workshop on Hindu Kush Himalayan Monitoring and Assessment Programme (HIMAP)

Perceiving Drivers of Change as the key global issues and trends driving change in the HKH Region, International Centre for ...

How a cross-border exchange helped revive a traditional craft

Himalayan nettle is aptly named. The tough plant grows abundantly in most Himalayan forests above 1,500 masl. A hardy fibre ...

1 May 2019 CryoHub
More research needed to understand the impact of cryosphere changes on mountain communities in the HKH

The review brings the much needed discussion on cryosphere services and their importance to the spotlight. The high-mountain societies that ...

22 Jul 2015 News
Community members speak of change in perception

On 14 July 2015, community members from the village of Dapcha in Nepal’s Kavre District gathered in a circle near ...