Making Franco-Bhutanese Friendship More Concrete Is Our Priority
Convinced for a long time of the common interests shared by France and Bhutan to concretise the friendly relations between our two nations, I have undertaken for the past year and a half the task to intensify these relations with a dual objective:
- Capitalise on our commonalities such as the importance we attach to culture;
- Increase our exchanges, particularly in the fields of education and vocational training, tourism, environment and biodiversity protection, sport, as well as health and economic development.
It is to deepen collaboration in all these areas that I have returned to Bhutan with a large delegation composed not only of several embassy counsellors but also by a business delegation of 11 French companies based in India and the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IFCCI), which has more than 500 members.
In the field of culture, France will continue to be involved, as it has been for the past two years, in the Drukyul’s Literature and Arts Festival. This year, along with inviting French speakers, several French films will be screened in the presence of a famous movie director at the Festival. We also wish to include Bhutan in an artist residency programme called “Villa Swagatam”, which we launched in partnership with India in 2023. Lastly, we are looking into the possibility of organising an exhibition in Paris on Bhutanese art and crafts, particularly on textiles.
In education, the French Institute in India (IFI) has signed two MoUs with the Royal Academy of Bhutan in July 2024 and the De-suung Skilling Programme in August 2024. Under the first MoU, within a year and for the first time in Bhutan, the French language will be taught to students from Grades VII to XII, while the second MoU enables French volunteers to contribute to Bhutan’s need of vocational training.
Promising contacts have also been established in the tourism and hospitality sectors with Le Cordon Bleu, one of the most prestigious French culinary arts and hotel management institutes in the world.
The Embassy of France in India will also take initiatives to encourage the mobility of Bhutanese students to France with attractive visa policies.
Regarding environment and biodiversity, cooperation is being formulated with the Royal Society for Protection of Nature and the Department of Forests and Park Services to protect red pandas and exchange good practices in the conservation and sustainable use of forests. Combatting climate change is also a major issue our two countries could eventually address.
We also want to develop synergies with Bhutan in the field of health, which is why I am accompanied by the health counsellor of the Embassy, who will propose avenues of cooperation at the end of this visit.
Economic cooperation is definitely a priority. A few French companies are already involved in Bhutan, such as Saint-Gobain, a French multinational corporation producing a variety of high-performance construction and other materials. Bhutan is already familiar with Airbus, whose planes assembled in Toulouse, the European capital of air and space, make up all the fleets of Druk Air and Bhutan Airlines, and which will be the first to serve the future international airport of Gelephu. But we want to do more and increase the opportunities for partnerships. The companies accompanying me are active in the fields of renewable energy, health, and food processing, including the natural extracts sector – one of Bhutan’s riches. This business delegation includes both global groups and SMEs, all eager to identify business and cooperation opportunities in Bhutan, and very interested in learning more about the GMC Special Autonomous Region project. I will, in fact, visit Gelephu to better understand the contours of this promising and ambitious project led by His Majesty the King.
I wish to enhance people-to-people ties between our two nations to support the momentum of Franco-Bhutanese relations in all areas. This is possible owing to the focussed and effective support we receive here from all our interlocutors, who, I am pleased to note, take a keen interest in France. I have no doubt about our shared desire to continue deepen our friendship through more concrete initiatives.
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