Statement by the Hon Ble Prime Minister of Bhutan, H.E. Lyonchhen Tshering Tobgay During

Statement by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bhutan, H.E. Lyonchhen Tshering Tobgay during the 12th Round Table Meeting at the Royal Banquet Hall 11-12-2013 ...... Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I bring to you the greetings of His Majesty the King and His good wishes for a fruitful visit.

It is a privilege to welcome each and every one of you to the Twelfth Round Table Meeting here in Thimphu. Our meeting today is taking place shortly after Bhutan’s second Parliamentary elections and the formation of a new government. It also coincides with the launch of the Eleventh Five Year Plan. Today’s event, therefore, is important. And your presence here is most heartening. I thank you.

Special thanks are due to His Excellency Haoling Xu, UN Assistant Secretary General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director, Asia and the Pacific, for kindly consenting to co-chair this important event. I would also like to acknowledge with appreciation the UNDP Country Office for organizing the Twelfth Round Table meeting.

Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen. Bhutan launched its first five-year plan in 1961. That was more than 50 years ago. And that was before I was even born. Much has been achieved during these past five decades.

Fifty years ago, we did not have a single motor road. Today more than 10,500 km of roads connect most of our villages to our cities and beyond our borders. And at last count, we had about 84,000 licensed drivers in country.

Fifty years ago, we did not have any telecommunication facility. Our first wireless station was established only in 1965. Today, 27,000 telephones and more than 560,000 cell phones keep most of our population constantly connected.

Fifty years ago, we had just eleven schools with about 400 students. Today, we have 580 schools and colleges. And we have no less than 200,000 students studying in them.

Fifty years ago, our economy consisted of subsistence farmers and a handful of traders using barter as their main mode of transaction. Today, we may still be a poor country, but our economy has recorded consistent growth and has the potential to lead us to economic self-reliance.

Fifty years ago, we did not have a civil service to speak of. A “development wing” with no more than 20 Bhutanese officers had to be established to implement our first five-year plan. Today, we have 25,000 bright, capable and motivated people forming our civil service.

And fifty years ago, we were an absolute monarchy. Today, at the behest of His Majesty the King himself, we are a vibrant democracy.

Indeed, this small, landlocked country has enjoyed a great deal of success since the start of planned modern development, some fifty years ago. What’s more, these successes were achieved in an era of unprecedented peace and harmony, without destroying our pristine environment, and without undermining our unique culture.

Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen.

We have come a long way in the last 50 years. There’s no doubt about that. The first 10 five-year plans have been largely successful. So we must celebrate our successes, successes built on the leadership of our monarchs, the hard work of our people, and the support and generosity of our development partners.

But we still have a long way to go. There’s no doubt about that too.

We are still a poor country. Our combined GDP is just Nu 99 billion. That’s barely US$ 1.6 billion. Our economy has a small base, but it could grow by just 4.6% last year. We are still heavily dependent on a single sector – hydropower. Domestic production remains low, and spiraling imports driven by growing consumption, presents severe balance of trade problems. Our economy is small and fragile, and we are still extremely vulnerable to shocks, both from within the country and from the outside world.

60% of our people depend on agriculture, but farming practices are still largely subsistence. As such, poverty is still a stark reality. And many of our children are malnourished and stunted. To make matters worse, unemployment, especially among our educated youth, is on the rise and is already leading to a range of social problems. In the area of governance, even as we lay strong foundations in our democratic process, much remains to be done in terms of strengthening democracy through greater transparency, efficiency and accountability in the political and administrative processes.

So the next five years will be crucial. We can build on the strong foundations of the past five decades to address our immediate challenges. We can improve our human capital and strengthen our economy. We can achieve sustainable self- reliance and we can graduate, with satisfaction and pride, from Least Developed Country status.

Or we can become overwhelmed by our problems, problems that are complex, numerous and daunting. If so, we will remain mired in poverty in spite of our past achievements. We will remain an LDC in spite of the many opportunities offered by the rule of law and political stability.

The Eleventh Five Year Plan gives us the opportunity to take stock of the state of our nation, to recognize our constraints, and to build on our past achievements by ushering in new plans, strategies and preparations that will allow us to work towards “self-reliance and inclusive green socio-economic development.”

The Eleventh Plan is not a political document. It was developed by and belongs to the people of Bhutan. It is a blueprint for development that is characterized by bottom-up planning approach. It was prepared by local governments in consultation with individual households. It reflects the extensive work of civil servants across all sectors and agencies. It builds on all our past achievements, including the efforts of the previous government. And most importantly, it draws upon the wisdom of His Majesty the King, consistently articulated in Royal Addresses to all sections of our people.

At Nu 214 billion, the Eleventh Five Year Plan is by far our most ambitious plan. We will be able to meet the entire recurrent expenditure from our own resources. But we will need the support of our development partners to finance most of the capital investments. In this connection, I would like to acknowledge, with deep thanks, the Government of India’s commitment to finance Nu 45 billion of the Plan. Similarly, other partners – bilateral, multilateral and international financial institutions and NGOs – have also made generous commitments. And I thank them all. But we continue to face significant resource gaps, and I look forward to working closely with our development partners to overcoming these shortfalls.

The Eleventh Five Year Plan sets clear outcomes and targets that the government must achieve over the next five years in order to realize the objective of “Self Reliance and Inclusive Green Socio-Economic Development.” These outcomes and targets have been packaged as 16 National Key Result Areas and are supported by a range of key performance indicators to assist the government. More importantly, these easily identifiable indicators will allow the people of Bhutan to monitor and measure the performance of their government.

The Eleventh Plan is ambitious. It sets out a development agenda that is necessarily ambitious. But with the strong foundations of our past, an unwavering faith in our future, an enduring belief in our abilities, and the continued goodwill and support of our time-tested friends, I have no doubt that the Eleventh Plan will be a success – a landmark that lays new foundations for a future that is even more remarkable than our past.

The Royal Government of Bhutan is committed to implementing the principles of Gross National Happiness. Though the second elected government has been in office for barely four months, we have already embarked on several initiatives aimed at operationalizing GNH.

To make quality education more inclusive, for example, we have decided to pilot a bold project that will use video conferencing to carry lessons, in real time, from our best teachers to classrooms in distant parts of our country. To foster a vibrant private sector and to support small businesses throughout the country, we have launched, with assistance of the Government of India, an Economic Stimulus Plan. And to make doing business easier and more enjoyable, we have committed to improve our Ease of Doing Business ranking from 141 to the top 100 within the next year.

To lower greenhouse gas emissions, we have decided to take sustainable transport and electric vehicles very seriously. To protect our forests, we are taking measures to encourage farmers to use more electric power and less firewood. And to reduce garbage, we are preparing to launch Clean Bhutan, a national program to clean our cities, our rivers and our countryside.

To improve good governance, we have empowered local governments with additional financial and administrative powers. To improve efficiency in the public service, we have decided to go fully electronic by using Google Apps, a cloud- based productivity suite. To increase accountability in the civil service, we are developing a performance management system. And to improve transparency in the government, we have tabled a Right to Information legislation.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the distinguished representatives gathered here for taking part in this Round Table Meeting. Your presence bears testimony of your goodwill, friendship and solidarity at this crucial juncture of our development.

I take this opportunity to thank all our development partners for their exemplary support and cooperation, and look forward to continuing our friendship and cooperation.

I wish the meeting every success.

Thank you. Tashi Delek!