Bhutan’s 1st BPO on brink of shutdown

November 25 – The government may have plans to create a high tech habitat in Bhutan by promoting the establishment of, among others, business processes outsourcing companies (BPO), but the country’s first such company may not even make it that far. Bhutan business solutions (BBS), a medical transcription BPO, established in Thimphu in 2007, is contemplating shutting down after not being able to find a suitable location to relocate its company. The BPO was informed earlier last month by the... Read more

Bhutan wins best immunisation award

November 24 – After three decades of aggressively promoting and achieving 95 percent immunisation coverage, Bhutan’s effort received international recognition on November 19, in Hanoi, Vietnam, when it received the best immunisation performance award. For six different categories, the awards were given to 14 low-income group countries by the global alliance for vaccine and immunisation (GAVI) for their outstanding performance in child health and immunisation. The best immunisation performance... Read more

T Bank on cue, PNB gets extension

November 24 - The royal monetary authority (RMA) has given a six-month extension to Druk PNB to fulfill all requirements needed to obtain the license to start commercial banking operations. “We checked to see if the need was genuine and accordingly gave the extension,” said RMA’s head of the financial institutions supervisory division, Eden Dema. “An extension is normally given for six months at a time.” Druk PNB, a joint venture between some Bhutanese promoters and the Punjab national... Read more

Brazil GNH conference

November 23 – Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley delivered the keynote address at the opening of the Fifth International Conference on GNH at Iguacu, Brazil, on November 20. Addressing an audience of about a thousand participants including senior officials and prominent academicians, the Prime Minister explained the evolution of the concept of GNH, its practice and relevance. Earlier today he also addressed the concluding session of the Conference on ‘Cultivating Good Water’. After his arrival... Read more

Ten test positive for swine flu in October

November 20 – Nine Bhutanese and a foreigner working in Thimphu tested positive for influenza A H1N1, also known as swine flu, last month, taking the number of confirmed cases in the country to 16. All 16, who were tested positive, have recovered, said health officials. However, there could be more cases, as the referral hospital is yet to receive results of samples sent to Thailand for confirmation. Since the flu surveillance began in the country, 1,546 samples were sent to Thailand, of which... Read more

Kuwait highest contributor

November 20 - The government of Kuwait and Kuwait Red Crescent society contributed USD 5.5 million, approximately Nu 253m to Bhutan as assistance to reconstruct and rehabilitate damages caused by Cyclone Aila on May 26 and the September 21 earthquake. The highest contribution, so far, was handed over to the government yesterday. The government of the state of Kuwait is the only country in the middle east with which Bhutan has diplomatic relations. Meanwhile, the Bhutan Society of the United Kingdom... Read more

Tourism tie-up with Thailand

November 19 – The tourism council of Bhutan (TCB) and the tourism authority of Thailand (TAT) are in talks to increase the flow of tourists between the two countries. TAT director, Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, said that the two authorities recently held a meeting in Thimphu to deliberate areas of collaboration. The first step towards establishing collaboration will be the formation of a ‘working committee’, according to officials of both authorities. The committee will consist of representatives... Read more

Reconstituted as autonomous authority

November 19 – Almost two years after it was established as a council, the tourism council of Bhutan (TCB) will finally function as a fully autonomous authority with nine new council members led by the prime minister and a restructured TCB secretariat. The erstwhile department of tourism was renamed in February 2008 as TCB, and made the apex authority of tourism services and facilities, but it was still functioning as any other government department, according to a TCB secretariat official.... Read more

Bhutanese UNV evacuated from Afghanistan

November 19 – A Bhutanese UN volunteer, Lhap Tshering, was among the 600 UN international staff temporality evacuated from Afghanistan, after terrorists attacked the UN guesthouse in Kabul on October 20. Lhap Tshering, 29, who had started working as an ICT regional support officer in Kabul in October 1, said that he didn’t know what happened as he lived in another UN guesthouse. The attack took place in a UN guesthouse called Bakhtar, a few metres away from the one Lhap Tshering stayed in. According... Read more

Lemon grass oil

November 19 – Late rains and the September 21 earthquake have drastically reduced the extraction of lemon grass oil in the four eastern dzongkhags of Trashigang, Mongar, Lhuentse and Trashiyangtse. According to the manager of the lemon grass cooperative in Sherichhu, Tshering Wangchuk, who has made two rounds to collect the oil, only 30 distillers were active this season, down from 55 last year. Oil production had also dropped from 4.96 metric tonnes (MT) to about 1.6 MT so far this year. “We... Read more

« Previous Page — Next Page »