Standing beside Jigmi Y. Thinley, Bhutan’s first elected Prime Minister, Dr. Singh answered, “This is very exciting. Bhutan has just witnessed elections a marvellous development, of peaceful transition to a democratic monarchy.” As a democracy, he said, India cherished this moment.

But if the arrival of democracy marks a huge change in Bhutan’s political landscape, one element which appears clearly to have remained constant is the warmth of its relations with India. Moved by the presence of thousands of schoolchildren lining lengthy stretches of the highway between Paro, where his plane landed, and Thimphu, Dr. Singh broke with convention to stop his motorcade and greet people at a small village named Khasadrapchu.

In his banquet speech in honour of Dr. Singh, Mr. Thinley said he was among the students who had lined the road to welcome Jawaharlal Nehru 50 years ago. “Kind, understanding and generous indeed, India has been,” he said.

The relationship between Bhutan and India “has blossomed into a model of inter-state relations between two neighbouring countries,” the Bhutanese Prime Minister said, adding, “here, I cannot help but allude to the refreshing absence of the ‘big brother syndrome’ that characterises most relationships between big and small neighbours.” Prime Minister Thinley said the partnership in recent years in hydropower sector “is changing the nature of our bilateral relationship from a purely donor-recipient relationship to one of collaboration for mutual benefit. Bhutan, he said, was keen to begin work on a number of other large projects so that by 2020, “the two countries will enjoy the benefits of 10,000 MW of clean energy to fire our drive for greater prosperity.”

During Dr. Singh’s discussions with Mr. Thinley, the latter emphasised Bhutan’s emphasis on ecologically sustainable development. Bhutan, he said, was the only country in the world to have expanded its green cover at the same time as its national income had grown. <<back