Jaishankar Wraps Up Bhutan Visit With Hydropower, UPI and Dairy Deals
S Jaishankar concluded a three-day Bhutan visit that saw new energy, health, connectivity and digital payments initiatives, plus 54 EVs and 43 Jersey cows handed over.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar concluded the second day of his three-day visit to Bhutan, a trip New Delhi described as part of its regular high-level exchanges with the Himalayan neighbour and a bid to deepen their longstanding friendship and cooperation.
In Thimphu, Jaishankar called on Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Topgay and conveyed greetings from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both sides said their talks covered a range of issues of mutual interest and underscored the close ties between the two countries. The minister also met the King of Bhutan, and the two lit butter lamps at a prayer ceremony at Tashichhodzong held to honour the friendship between the nations and to mark Modi's birthday.
Projects for Bhutan's progress
The visit featured the laying of the foundation stone for the 500 KW Lunana Hydropower Project in Gasa, in northern Bhutan. Jaishankar called it a milestone in the two countries' energy partnership, which began with the Jungshina hydroelectric plant in Thimphu in 1967 and now reaches Bhutan's last unelectrified settlements.
He inaugurated the 65-bed Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema Mother and Child Hospital in Mongar, intended to improve access to specialised maternal and child care in eastern Bhutan, and the 80-metre Jaganathan Bridge in Samdrup Jongkhar. The bridge, built by Project Dantak, is expected to improve connectivity between Trashigang and Samdrup Jongkhar.
Digital payments and scholarships
Along with Bhutan's prime minister and its foreign affairs and external trade minister, Jaishankar launched the second phase of the Unified Payments Interface and exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding on the Nehru Wangchuck Scholarship at Pemako in Thimphu. UPI was rolled out in Bhutan in 2021, with the first phase allowing Indian travellers to pay digitally there; the second phase will let Bhutanese citizens make digital payments in India. The scholarship, instituted in 2009, supports Bhutanese nationals pursuing postgraduate study at premier Indian institutions and has been renewed twice before, in 2014 and 2020.
Electric vehicles and dairy support
At the courtyard of the National Council in Thimphu, Jaishankar handed over 54 Mahindra electric vehicles, which were received by Prime Minister Topgay in the presence of Foreign Affairs and External Trade Minister DN Dungyel and other officials. The batch follows 45 EVs handed over in July under a project tied to Bhutan's 13th five-year plan to promote e-mobility. Another 45 electric buses are to be procured through the same project, with a total vehicle procurement budget of 900 million Bhutanese Ngultrum.
A day earlier, Jaishankar visited the National Cattle Breeding Centre in Bumthang, where 43 purebred Jersey cows from India were handed over for Bhutan's dairy cattle breeding programme. The initiative is aimed at raising milk productivity and supporting local farmers, and the minister noted that the centre's breeding programme is expected to benefit 40,000 farmers.
India has partnered with Bhutan on socio-economic development since Bhutan's first five-year plan in 1961, with the relationship anchored in New Delhi's 'Neighbourhood First' policy.