BhutanBike & Culture

:: BHUTAN
Bhutan is a small kingdom in the eastern Himalayas, extending over an area of 38,394 square kilometres. The country is bordered by India and China. Despite being landlocked, with difficult terrain and a widely dispersed population, Bhutan has made rapid socioeconomic progress. The country’s real annual economic growth averaged about 7-8 per cent over the last two decades and grew by 6.8 per cent in 2003. Bhutan’s per capita Gross Domestic Product has risen from $239 in 1980 to $1,523 in 2006
Hydropower development and the export of surplus electricity to India has largely sustained this robust growth and fundamentally transformed the structure of Bhutan’s economy. Through prudent macroeconomic management the country is performing well and the Government’s investment in social and human development has raised hopes of Bhutan meeting several of the Millennium Development Goals

:: POPULATION
Almost all the working population is involved in agriculture, forestry or fishing. The economy is therefore mainly one of subsistence. The main products are cereals and timber – about 60% of the land area is forested. Over 90% of the population are subsistence farmers, living a life unchanged over generations. There is some small-scale industry (contributing no more than 5% of GDP) producing textiles, soap, matches, candles and carpets.
Recent economic policy has concentrated on export industries, of which electric power generation and transmission is the major earner. Tourism and stamps are major sources of foreign exchange. Gross National Happiness, which measures the population’s physical, emotional and spiritual well-being to help assess the country’s ’wealth’, is an official part of the constitution

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:: BHUTAN's 9th Five-Year Plan
Bhutan’s Ninth Five-Year Plan (July 2002 to June 2008) is currently under implementation and constitutes the basis for the country's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. Even as Bhutan’s improvements in human development levels have been impressive the country still faces a number of constraints and challenges. The 2004 Poverty Assessment indicated that the national poverty rate is 32 per cent, but 38 per cent in the rural areas. Some constraints, such as the harsh mountainous terrain and the highly dispersed patterns of settlements limit the delivery of social services and greatly escalate development costs.
Bhutan’s development has been guided by an original philosophy based on the concept of Gross National Happiness, striving to balance spiritual and material advancement through the following four pillars: sustainable and equitable economic growth and development, preservation and sustainable use of the environment, preservation and promotion of cultural heritage and good governance. Good Governance is increasingly important as Bhutan is undergoing a challenging process of decentralisation, democratisation and political change: as Bhutan moves towards the promulgation of its new Constitution and parliamentary democracy in 2008, it is expected that its institutions of democratic governance will need to be greatly strengthened

:: BHUTAN and the EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
source: http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/bhutan/csp/index.htm
In an effort to support these developments, the EC will concentrate the scope of its development commitments with Bhutan in the following three focal areas:

• Renewable Natural Resources: assist Bhutan with the sustainable development of its Renewable Natural Resources sector, by creating an enabling environment, including further development of its institutional regulatory frameworks and developing the value chain of Renewable Natural Resources in creation of niche markets, such as medicinal plants.
• Good Governance: the Royal Government of Bhutan itself has underlined the importance of democratisation and with the ongoing de-centralisation process this will be an important sector for EC support. The EC’s second focal area therefore involves the strengthening of the Royal Government’s capacity and institutions to ensure that a smooth transition to democracy is achieved and is sustainable. Although the 10th Plan of the country is still under preparation, Good Governance will be one of the central focus of the interventions. In addition, given that Good Governance is a cross sectoral issue, this assistance could come in the form of budgetary support.
• Trade Facilitation: given the need for Bhutan to participate more effectively in the global economy, EC support for trade facilitation will be addressed in the second MIP.

EC assistance in the areas of intervention will be complemented by a limited range of actions and support received through various thematic programmes and regional budget lines.