Bhutan-India development talks in Delhi

The fourth Annual Bhutan-India Development Cooperation talks in New Delhi on Wednesday has made a comprehensive review of implementation of India’s developmental projects in Bhutan worth over Rs 40B.

Both sides noted with satisfaction overall progress of implementation of the projects.

The annual Development Cooperation Talks are the umbrella mechanism for discussing India’s bilateral developmental assistance to Bhutan.

India has committed Rs 28B as Project Tied Assistance (PTA), Rs 8.5B for Programme Grant and Rs 8.5B for Small Development Projects (SDPs) for Bhutan’s 11th Five Year Plan from July 2013 to June 2018.

A total of 85 PTA projects and 485 SDPs have been broadly agreed for implementation during the current Plan period.

With Bhutan’s 11th Five Year Plan entering its third year, the two sides reviewed the overall progress of PTA projects and agreed to a reprioritised list of projects, the External Affairs Ministry of India said in a statement.

The two sides agreed to hold the next annual Development Cooperation Talks in 2016 in Thimphu.

The Indian side was led by Sujata Mehta, Secretary at the External Affairs Ministry and the Bhutanese delegation was led by Tshering Dorji, Foreign Secretary.