Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good evening ladies and gentlemen, a very warm welcome to all of you to this special briefing by Foreign Secretary Shri Vinay Kwatra on the ongoing State Visit of Honorable Prime Minister of India. On the dais we are also joined by Ambassador of India to Bhutan, Shri Sudhakar Dalela and our colleague in the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Anurag Srivastava, Joint Secretary (North), who looks after Bhutan. With that I hand over the floor to Foreign Secretary Sir to make his opening remarks.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Thank you very much Randhir, Ambassador Sudhakar Dalela, Joint Secretary Anurag, friends from the media. Thank you so much for coming out for this special briefing although it’s little late in the evening. Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji as you all know is on an ongoing State Visit to Bhutan which started earlier today and would conclude tomorrow morning. Prime Minister Modi ji is here at the invitation of His Majesty the King of Bhutan. I would like to update you on one, different elements of the visit, two, a broad sense of the program and three important outcomes from this visit.
In terms of the elements, Honorable Prime Minister arrived earlier today and was received by the Honorable Prime Minister of Bhutan, senior ministers and senior officials of the Royal Government of Bhutan at the airport. After the exchange of MoUs in the presence of the two Prime Ministers earlier today afternoon, the Prime Minister of Bhutan hosted a working lunch for Prime Minister Modi. Thereafter, Honorable Prime Minister received an audience from His Majesty the King of Bhutan at the Tashichho Dzong Palace. From there, Prime Minister arrived at Tendrelthang festival ground for the public awards ceremony where he accepted the Order of Druk Gyalpo, the highest civilian award of Bhutan from His Majesty the King and with this he is the first foreign dignitary to receive this highest civilian award of Bhutan.
In the evening, Honorable Prime Minister received audience with His Majesty the Fourth King of Bhutan and thereafter earlier this evening, His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen hosted a dinner in honor of Honorable Prime Minister.
In terms of outcomes, especially looking at the political salience of some of these outcomes, you would recall that this is Honorable Prime Minister's third visit to Bhutan since 2014. You are aware that Bhutan was the first overseas destination in 2014 and also among early visits by Prime Minister Modi in 2019. This is a very clear reflection of the importance and the priority that the Prime Minister attaches to the India-Bhutan relations. Also at the same time, it signifies high level leadership level focus and prioritization of the relationship. This is not just a tradition of regular high level exchanges between India and Bhutan, but it also allows the leaderships of the two countries to undertake detailed assessment of the status of relationship across various domains. The present visit of Honorable Prime Minister follows recently the visit last week of His Excellency Dasho Tshering Tobgay, the Prime Minister of Bhutan, to India. As I mentioned briefly in my opening remarks in terms of audiences and meetings, the audience with His Majesty the King and the meeting with Prime Minister Tobgay were very productive, allowing essentially the two Prime Ministers and the Indian Prime Minister and His Majesty the King to take an extensive and exhaustive review of the entire gamut of our bilateral relations, also at the same time underline the important segments that the two countries will focus on going forward.
In terms of the order of Druk Gyalpo, as I mentioned, the Honorable Prime Minister Modi Ji accepted the highest civilian award of Bhutan, Order of Druk Gyalpo, earlier this afternoon. You would recall that conferment of the award was announced by His Majesty the King of Bhutan in December 2021 in recognition of the Honorable Prime Minister's contributions to strengthening India-Bhutan friendship. As I mentioned, Prime Minister Modi Ji is the first foreign dignitary and the fourth person to have been conferred this award in Bhutan. This is clearly a very important and significant milestone in our bilateral relations with Bhutan.
Earlier today, we have released the joint vision statement, an overall joint vision document and also a specific one with regard to elements of India-Bhutan partnership in the hydropower sector. The joint vision statement focuses, captures the essence of India-Bhutan cooperation, which is Bharat and Bhutan together for progress and development. It not only captures the ongoing discussions at the highest level of the leadership, including the recent visits of His Majesty, the King of Bhutan to India last year. As I mentioned most recently, the visit of Honorable Prime Minister of Bhutan last week to India and of course, the current ongoing visit of the Honorable Prime Minister. Besides, the joint statement also underlines and sketches out the broad directions of India-Bhutan relationship at present and also the focus areas of priority going forward. It also spells out our approach to take forward the bilateral cooperation in various areas.
The joint vision statement on India-Bhutan energy partnership, which also has been issued earlier today, is a very important outcome because it focuses on how the two countries will cooperate on mutually beneficial hydropower cooperation in months and years ahead, as also deepen our energy partnership in the areas of non-hydropower renewables. Since I mentioned about the MoUs, I would like to mention that you would have witnessed this earlier today, seven MoUs were exchanged between the two sides. I would only list out the areas in which these were exchanged and if there is an interest, there could be a handout which could be shared with the members of the media. The one MoU is on general supply of petroleum oil and lubricants, POL products from India to Bhutan.
Second is agreement between Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and Bhutan Food and Drug Authority. It is essentially for recognition of export inspection and certification system. It is essentially a trade facilitation measure that essentially brings about an ease of trade between the two economies.
Third, the MoU on cooperation in the field of energy efficiency and energy conservation measures; in the area of sports and youth; in the field of recognition and acceptance of Indian pharmacopoeia in Bhutan; space cooperation and agreement for national knowledge network between the two countries; besides a document on rail links between the two countries was also initialled earlier today.
Another very significant outcome for India-Bhutan relationship from this ongoing State Visit of Prime Minister was the announcement by the Prime Minister that the Government of India will be supporting the 13th five-year plan of Bhutan to the tune of Rs. 10,000 crores. This assistance for the 13th five-year plan of Rs. 10,000 crores also includes India's support for Bhutan's economic stimulus package. As you are aware, India has been the largest development partner of Bhutan since the inception of Bhutan's first five-year plan process. Just to give a comparative frame of reference, for the 12th five-year plan, the total support provided was 5,000 crores. So the quantum announced by the Honorable Prime Minister today in the public event as also in the private conversation is double of what was announced for the previous five-year plan. And this is again a manifestation of one clear strength of our partnership and also manifestation of our commitment to step up our support for the 13th five-year plan, which essentially is a very important segment of bilateral cooperation between the two systems, between the two peoples also. Our plan assistance is a very crucial part of our partnership and what it does most importantly is allow both the countries to push forward our bilateral engagement in the areas of common priorities.
Tomorrow, as part of his program, Honorable Prime Minister would also be inaugurating the Gyaltsuen Jetsun Pema Mother and Child Hospital, which has been constructed with the Government of India's assistance under the previous five-year plan, the 12th five-year plan. This is 150-bedded hospital in Thimphu, which is essentially focused on improving maternal and child care in Bhutan.
That would be the last event by the Honorable Prime Minister in Bhutan before his departure and return to India from Paro tomorrow morning. You would notice that the extent of the depth and the level of discussions during this ongoing State Visit, various elements of the program, substance of the outcome clearly points to the wide, extensive and deep range of India-Bhutan partnership across various areas of economic engagement, whether it's an energy partnership, I talked about hydropower vision document, trade and commerce, I talked about…Prime Minister spoke about integrated check posts being built across the borders, enhanced railway connectivity, measures which enhance people-to-people linkages, which is one of the mainstays of our partnership, clearly points to the special relationship which…of India and Bhutan, between India and Bhutan, characterized by trust, goodwill and mutual understanding.
I think besides all this, a very important point is that the visit has given us a very clear roadmap of the direction to pursue, area to prioritize, intensity to focus on in terms of how we would be carrying forward our collaboration in months and years ahead. I think I will stop here and if there are questions, we'll try and take them.
Ayushi: Sir, good evening, this is Ayushi Agarwal from ANI. I have two questions, first is, can we have more details of the discussions on the Gelephu Mindfulness City Project, how would be India supporting this project since Prime Minister mentioned in his address. Second, did the border dispute, the China-Bhutan border dispute come up during the discussions?
Ashish: Ashish Singh from ABP News. Sir space ko lekar Prime Minister Modi ne aaj bahot highlight bhi kiya, unke major elements mei se ek tha speech mei, aur dusra MoU mei bhi uska exchange hua hain, so in the backdrop of INS 2B, jo humne satellite ISRO ne launch kiya tha Bhutan ke liye, November 2022 mei; aur fir April mei humne last year ground station bhi inaugurate kiya, aap agar thoda sa detail bata sake ki MoU ko lekar space domain mei aur aage hamare kya plan hain. Dusra sir, jo Ayushi ne pucha usika thoda sa aur detail janna chahenge ki China, jaise reports satellite images se bhi aati rahi hain ki Bhutan ke kuch areas per encroachment ko lekar reports aati rahi hain pichle dedh-do saalon mei, usko lekar koi specific conversation?
[Question in Hindi: Approximate Translation] Ashish Singh from ABP News. Sir, Prime Minister Modi also highlighted regarding space today, one of the major elements in his speech, and second, there was an exchange of the MoU as well. So, in the backdrop of INS2B, the satellite launched by ISRO for Bhutan in November 2022, and then last year in April, we also inaugurated the ground station. Could you provide some details regarding the MoU in the space domain and what are our future plans? Secondly, I would like to know a bit more about what Ayushi asked, regarding reports of encroachment in certain areas of Bhutan by China, also indicated by reports from satellite images, over the past couple of years. Any specific conversation on that?
Rishikesh: Hi sir, Rishikesh from PTI. Ayushi ka jo sawal tha usi se aage ki, does India consider the Chinese stance along the border of Bhutan as assertive?
[Question in Hindi: Approximate Translation] Hi sir, Rishikesh from PTI. Following on Ayushi's question, does India consider the Chinese stance along the border of Bhutan as assertive?
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: As what?
Rishikesh: Assertive. And the second question, is there any fixed timeframe to complete the railway project between India and Bhutan?
Speaker 1: So mine is regarding the MoUs that were exchanged earlier, and particularly on the establishment of railway links between Bhutan and India. Earlier the Prime Minister already mentioned that the two railway links will be established between Gelephu and Kokrajhar, and Samtse and Banarhat. So if we could get more details on when the works are likely to commence and how long will it take for the works to complete?
Saurav: So my question is a follow-up on the rail links. When it comes to railway links with neighbours, we already have an existing train services that specifically ply between countries, Maitri, for example, with Bangladesh. Is there something like that on the cards with Bhutan as well, once the rail link is complete?
Sangay Rabten: Good evening. My name is Sangay Rabten. I'm with Business Bhutan. I would like to know more details on Puna Hydro project that had been on hold, and we knew that it has been discussed. So what is the decision between the two parties? Thank you.
Speaker 2: Good evening, sir. I'm from (Inaudible). Since this morning, seven MoUs were signed, and one of MoUs is on the supply of petroleum to Bhutan. So Bhutan has already requested the Government of India to supply directly to Bhutan without putting the middleman. So how is it going to work? Is it going to supply directly to Bhutan?
Speaker 3: Good evening, sir. I'm from Business Bhutan. I have one question and one request from (inaudible). My question is about…the Prime Minister today talked about different areas of collaboration, but maybe I have missed it. There wasn't mention of any cooperation on green energy.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: On?
Speaker 3: Greens. So is it there in our plan for us? And the other one, the request. We are very, very grateful to the Government of India for having given us the Zhabdrung Statue, which is right now in Simtokha, very soon to be taken back to India. So this is a request from some of our citizens, if India could consider standing, keeping of the statue. Thank you very much.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: I didn't get your question on the green investments, please? You mean to say green energy?
Speaker 4: Yes, green energy. Green energy, green bonds.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Okay. Thank you very much. I think let me just pool together the set of questions which relate to the broader elements of connectivity between the two countries and within that space, more specifically the cooperation relating to the rail links. If I understand correctly that was the broad sense of a set of three-four questions, that sort of came from the room. As I mentioned to you and as you would have probably noticed when the MoUs were exchanged earlier today, MoUs were also initialled with regard to two rail links. One was, as the lady there mentioned, between Kokrajhar and Gelephu, which is essentially a stretch of 60 kilometers and between Samtse and Banarhat which is essentially a set of 15 to 18 kilometers. Currently, if I am correct, the field level engineering surveys are currently going on, which is normally the first process which essentially helps establish the alignment of these rail links and thereafter the next steps which would broadly be preparation of the DPRs and the award of…the next steps would take place. It is generally expected that the field level surveys would be completed fairly shortly in the next few months and thereafter the specific process of construction would commence. The construction of these two rail lines is a shared priority between the two governments.
And the larger issue to keep in mind here which I prefaced my remarks with is that one of the central thrust and drive areas of regional cooperation between India and the other partners is to be better connected. And the connectivity is not just limited to one space of either Integrated Check Post which is more infrastructure driven or in this particular case, railway links. You yourself spoke about links which operate between India and Bangladesh. Now there are a couple of links operating between India and Nepal and now we have two more coming here. We also at the same time talk about connectivity which is new age connectivity, financial connectivity, digital interoperability. These are also the mechanisms which not only connect the people of the two countries but they also bring together the two economies much closer. So we, from our side along with the Bhutanese side and in mutual cooperation, would be prioritizing and focusing on the two railway links for which the MoU has been initialled. And soon after the completion of the FLS as I said in the next few months, the process of the construction and the related documentation between the two sides should commence. So that is in so far as the railway segment and the broader area of connectivity relationship between India and Bhutan is concerned.
With regard to Gelephu Mindfulness City, Ms Ayushi your question, you would have heard Honorable Prime Minister's address today at the event of the Award Presentation Ceremony. If you had chance you would have also looked at some of the joint statements which have come out of the recent visits of His Majesty the King to India and most recently the visit of Honorable Prime Minister of Bhutan to India. And the sense of it was today captured in Prime Minister's statement which is in two forms; One, that the Honorable Prime Minister of India fully supports the vision of His Majesty the King for Bhutan, for the prosperity of Bhutanese people. And in that Gelephu Mindfulness City stands out as a very very important project, important priority project as identified by Bhutan, by His Majesty the King. And we from India, both at the leadership level and at the system level, are strongly supportive of this project. Of course the project is in Bhutan, so I think a lot of this would happen in Bhutan. But the projects of this nature have a much broader ecosystem of functionality, of operation, of networks. And I am sure at one point or another, whether it relates to the investment partnership or it leads to construction partnerships or it leads to the larger management issue etc., you will find that as the city develops we will of course go by what the Bhutanese priorities are. I think Government of India would be very happy to cooperate with the Government of Bhutan, based on whatever priorities that the Government of Bhutan identifies in so far as the Gelephu Mindfulness City project is concerned.
With regard to the MoU on Space which was asked, this was one of the MoUs which were signed today, which features in the list of seven MoUs basically. Besides the satellite launch which India and Bhutan cooperated on earlier on, it also draws up a roadmap for capacity building, for training and for new areas of space cooperation program. Space cooperation is just not limited to development of payloads, satellites and their launches. There is a much wider ecosystem of utilization of space services using space cooperation to strengthen science and technology and innovation related capabilities within the societies. This document which has been worked out today is actually a joint plan of action. It just does not talk about intent of cooperation. It actually identifies specific activities that the space related entity in India, that is Indian Space Research Organization, will work with Government of Bhutan to strengthen some of these areas of space, science and technology, so that it contributes to the larger development of science and technology penetration and related innovation within the Bhutanese society.
The larger question, set of three questions, I will again bunch them together, with regard to the China-Bhutan boundary, Ayushi asked and later on the gentleman here also asked. Look, insofar as the boundary discussions between Bhutan and China are concerned, they are matters between those two countries. Insofar as India's relations with Bhutan are concerned, as today's ongoing State Visit of Honorable Prime Minister very clearly signifies, they stand on their own footing and they are independent of relations with other countries. I have outlined to you in great detail the substantive elements of India-Bhutan partnership. You can well appreciate not only their wide range but also the depth of partnership and the extent of support this partnership enjoys, not just at the level of the leadership but also at the level of the people. While talking about India-Bhutan ties, I should also mention, besides the specific, that there are some core fundamentals which are essential to this. The first of it, I would call, would be shared values, one of the core fundamentals; trust, very, very crucial; mutual respect, close understanding, and sensitivity to each other’s interests and concerns. Today’s, my response to queries earlier on in the room clearly points to the extent and depth of our friendship and cooperation and long-standing elements of coordination and cooperation, and also the time-tested framework for our security cooperation, which involves capacity building, training, involving the systems on the two sides. So our focus in our engagements with Bhutan, when I speak to my counterpart, when Honorable Prime Minister meets with the leadership of this country, including the Prime Minister, including His Majesty the King, our focus is on, okay, this is where we are on India-Bhutan bilateral ties, where do we go from here, the direction and the trajectory is very positive, intensity is very strong and support is full and total.
There was one question which was asked by the gentleman there, one question and one request, as you said. The question was relating to the green energy. We haven't had a chance to go into individual domains that were discussed in today's meetings of Honorable Prime Minister with his counterpart and also with His Majesty the King. But one of the areas, and I spoke about the energy partnership, hydropower, non-renewable energy, so one of the key elements of discussion was on green energy. Now, green energy has two, three elements. One is the non-conventional green energy, so moving away from hydropower, looking at solar, obviously, not rule out elements of the wind also at times. Now, when we look at this space, we look at the space of green energy with a great degree of promise and potential. Already there have been some, I would say, scoping discussions between the two countries. In fact, the private sector from India is very interested in seeing how Bhutan, which is already a very strong bastion of green energy, the kind of commitment and deep belief which is there in green growth in Bhutan, I think, is an example for the whole world. So it was but natural that the green energy would figure very, very prominently in today's discussion. Source of energy combined with water, green hydrogen, automatically leads to that. So, yes, there was a range of discussion on that.
In so far as the request is concerned, I have taken a very serious note of this very important request with all the humility and humbleness available to me and we would try and take this forward in a right direction.
There was a question on Puna-I. Now, Puna-I, you all know very well the historical context of Puna-I and the challenges of geology that were faced in this project. What I would say is that the recent progress, I would not just say discussions, but the recent progress that both India and Bhutan have made in resolving some of the technical issues with regard to Puna-I has been very encouraging. And we are quite hopeful that technically feasible and also cost effective way forward can be finalized in these discussions between the two sides.
Thank you very much. Thanks.
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: With that, we come to the closure of this Special Briefing. Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen for your presence. Thank you. Have a good night.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Thank you.