Bhutanese Prime Minister’s Bangladesh visit

Bhutanese Prime Minister’s Bangladesh visit

Prime Minister of Bhutan L.J.Y Thinley paid a four-day state visit to Bangladesh with his twenty-three entourage with a view to further strengthening the economic and political ties as top of his agenda along with developing diplomatic and commercial relations and finding out further scope of cooperation between the two poverty stricken nations. One of the most important aspects of his recent visit has given us food for thought which was his lecture delivered on Gross National Happiness at the University of Dhaka where he described people in today's world as "economic animals" and characterized development activities as tools for materialistic growth. He said that societies were doing little to make people happy. Very important point he touched which makes huge scope for all of us to ponder and give serious attention. The study of happiness and its use as an index to measure human welfare goes back in history. Adam Smith, an English economist of the eighteenth century and Jeremy Benjamin, a philosopher, had seriously studied happiness as an economic phenomenon. But with the introduction of quantitative methods in economics, happiness fell out of fashion and utility became synonymous with income. He focused on the Easterlin Paradox reflecting the present trend of competition to earn materialistic gain which has become the index of happiness across the globe. A century passed before Richard Easterlin, an American economist, revisited this relationship between happiness and income. He discovered a paradox -- average happiness level did not increase as countries got richer. There was also no clear relationship between average per capita GDP and average happiness level across countries, once such countries crossed a certain minimum level of per capita income. In 1972, the former Bhutanese King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, who opened his country to modernization, was determined to build an economy that would serve Bhutan's unique culture based on Buddhist spiritual values. He, therefore, introduced happiness of humans as the key indicator of growth.
After King Wangchuk, learned Bhutanese themselves developed a survey to measure the general level of wellbeing of the people. Other academics around the world then devised policy screening tools to measure potential impact of economic projects and programs on what Bhutanese call as Gross National Happiness (GNH). GNH has four pillars namely sustainable development, preservation of cultural values, conservation of the environment and establishment of good governance. GNH is also applicable across various cultures. Thus, it can be used equally in a Buddhist polity as well as in a Muslim society or in the Christian world. There are also eight contributors to happiness: physical, mental and spiritual health, time balance, community vitality, cultural vitality, education, living standards, good governance and ecological vitality.
We know Bhutan is a country with a unique history. The country was never conquered or colonised. The Bhutanese have, therefore, developed a culture free from outside influence. They cherish their institution of monarchy and have developed a deep sense of nationhood. So when they arrived in the modern world they already had an ancient culture strapped on to their backs. Their pristine environment is another element that always dominated their lives. They live among beautiful mountains which have protected them from the vagaries of nature and also from human depredations. Living in splendid isolation they became a happy people.

Although governments in many countries have been able to produce income and wealth for their people, this has not brought happiness to them. Therefore, the very basis of modern life and its principles are being challenged. Tony Blair, former British prime minister had once said: "Money isn't everything. Delivering the best possible quality of life for us all means more than concentrating solely on economic growth." David Cameron, the present British prime minister, had said: "We should be thinking not just what is good for putting money in people's pockets, but also what is good for putting joy in people's hearts." The idea that politics should be about creating the "greatest happiness of the greatest number" still holds good and deserves serious attention.
Bangladesh and Bhutan signed an agreement on cultural exchange and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) pertaining to cooperation in the health sector. In terms of the MOU on health cooperation, upwards of 90 medical specialists and physicians, would be recruited by Thimphu in three years. Exchange of cultural delegations on a regular basis would help strengthen people-to-people relationship. In this context, Thinley's endorsement of a proposal for package tourism among Bangladesh, Bhutan and other neighbouring countries under a single umbrella should be followed up on. Of particular significance is the joint resolve to expand bilateral trade from worth US$ 30 million now to US 100 million within next few years. Many tradable goods of complementary nature have been identified. An interesting trade-off between our winter vegetables and horticulture commodities and those being produced by Bhutan during its summer months with relatively high altitude will keep the markets of both countries saturated with vegetables round the year. It is a good proposal that Bangladeshi entrepreneurs would be encouraged to invest in Bhutan's IT, agro-processing, education, hospitality and construction sectors, opening a fresh window of opportunity for us.On two other particular points the understanding that has been forged between the two governments is of special import: first, the sharing of data between upper riparian Bhutan and lower riparian Bangladesh on the Brahmaputra river, especially pertaining to its frequent flooding; and cooperation in hydro-power sector following augmentation of capacity in Bhutan on a regional basis.
The hall-mark of historic ties between Bhutan and Bangladesh lay in the contributions of Atish Dipankar, a Buddhist scholar from Bikrampur to the spread of Buddhism and knowledge across the world between 980-1052 AD. It is upon such foundations that secular values of Bangladesh are based, we are happy to recall that. Relations between independent Bangladesh and Bhutan developed steadily since 1971. Bhutan recognized Bangladesh on 07 December 1971. In early 1973, formal diplomatic relations between the two countries were established. On 29 April 1973, the first Ambassador of Bhutan to Bangladesh presented his credentials to the then Bangladesh President. Of recent relations we can mention the Commerce Secretary’s visit to Bhutan during 12-15 August, 2008. Bhutanese Minister for Economic Affairs visited Bangladesh including Burimari land port on 27 Sep-5 October, 2009. Also, the Hon’ble State Minister for Cultural Affairs of Bangladesh visited Bhutan to attend a seminar on Democracy The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid her first South Asian bilateral visit to Bhutan from 6-9 November 2009. Besides, signing of a new bilateral trade agreement Bangladesh and Bhutan issued a joint statement reaffirming the excellent relations and expressing desire to further strengthening of close cooperation that exists between them. Our prime minister handed over life saving medicines for the victims of earthquake that hit Bhutan in September 2009.

Over the years Bangladesh and Bhutan has maintained significant cooperation in this important area. Bhutanese students have pursued higher education in Bangladesh particularly in Engineering and Medicine. With the coming up of many private universities of high standards Bhutanese students can pursue higher studies in wide array of subjects including their traditional interests in Medicine and Engineering in these institutions at their own cost.Recently, the number of scholarship in medicine for the Bhutanese students has been raised from 2 to 4. Accordingly, Bangladesh offers four seats every year to Bhutanese students to study medicine in the public medical colleges in Bangladesh. Besides these, the premier institute in its field, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) also offers few seats to Bhutanese students.Bangladesh offers every year one scholarship to Bhutanese Army for Staff Course in the Bangladesh Defence Services Command and Staff College. A great potential lies for mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of tourism between Bangladesh and Bhutan. One area could be joint ‘tour package programs’.Both countries may also strengthen and promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of science and technology in areas of mutual interests including agricultural and environmental sciences.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said “The extraordinary relation between Bangladesh and Bhutan now needs to be turned into truly meaningful ties for mutual benefits.” Really both the countries should work in close cooperation to harness our synergies on these and other areas for the welfare of our two nations As we both strive to reach our goals to make our nations hunger free, illiteracy free, free from disease , we want to see the valuable cooperation between us including regional connectivity to make our region a prosperous one. Great opportunities lie before us which we need to seize together.

Md. Masum Billah
Program Manager: BRAC Education Program
Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com