FNSt has no project office in Bhutan but is cooperating with the BCCI - Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry - , which is a member of our regional partner, the SCCI, SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry.








Country Profile





OFFICIAL NAME: Kingdom of Bhutan or ‘Druk Yul’
(the land of the thunder dragon)

CAPITAL: Thimphu

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: The Kingdom of Bhutan is a small, land-locked country. It lies in the Himalaya range of mountains, with the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China to the north. To the south, Bhutan is bordered (west to east) by the Indian states -Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.



TIMELINE

1907 - Ugyen Wangchuk is chosen as hereditary ruler.

1910 - Treaty signed with British giving them control over Bhutan’s foreign relations.

1949 - Treaty signed with newly-independent India guaranteeing non-interference in Bhutan’s internal affairs, but allowing Delhi influence over foreign relations.

1952 - Reformist monarch Jigme Dorji Wangchuk succeeds to throne.

1952 - National assembly established. Modernisation

1958 - Slavery abolished. Other social reforms follow in subsequent years.

1959 - Several thousand refugees given asylum after Chinese annex Tibet.

1964, 1965 - Prime minister killed in dispute among competing political factions. Unsuccessful attempt to assassinate monarch.

1968 - First cabinet established.

1971 - Bhutan joins United Nations.

1972 - King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk dies and is succeeded by his son, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, who continues policy of cautious modernisation.

1998 - King cedes some powers to national assembly, giving up role as head of government; cabinet now elected by assembly; famous “Tiger’s Lair” Buddhist monastery damaged by fire.

1999 - Limited television and internet services allowed; several dozen political prisoners released.

2000 - First internet cafe opens in Thimphu; Bhutan hit by landslides following severe flooding in region, causing at least 200 deaths.

2001 August - Bhutanese, Nepalese ministers meet to discuss the repatriation of Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal. Some 100,000 ethnic Nepalese say they were forced out of Bhutan in the 1980s and 1990s, alleging ethnic and political repression.

2002 January - Indian state of Assam says two rebel groups still have camps in Bhutan, despite Bhutan's deadline for them to leave the country by the end of 2001.

2002 December - First draft of a new constitution presented; it envisages Bhutan becoming a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy.

2003 December - Bhutanese soldiers fight Indian separatist rebels in an attempt to drive them from their bases in the south of the country.



Source: BBC News

for more information about Bhutan:

www.bhutan.gov.bt/