Svensk-Bhutanesiska Föreningen

Ambassador Sonam Tobden Rabgye is requesting all friendship societies to kindly spread the word about the exhibition to people who might be interested, especially if they happen to be in or around Germany while the exhibition is on. In German.

http://www.museenkoeln.de/museum-fuer-ostasiatische-kunst/default.asp?s=320&kontrast=print

Bhutan was ranked 40th out of 163 countries in the 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) produced by a team of environmental experts at Yale University and Columbia University in the US. Released yesterday at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Bhutan scored 68 on the EPI scores. Läs mer »

President Sarkozy, who ordered the French national statistics office, Insee, to come up with a new array of measurements, isn’t the only global leader who has questioned current metrics for wealth. Barack Obama raised the issue during his campaign for the U.S. presidency, and David Cameron, leader of the U.K.’s Conservative Party, has called for thinking about “general well-being” instead of just output.

So far, some banks and at least one country, Bhutan, have used quality-of-life indicators as a measure of a nation’s success and as an alternative to GDP. Bhutan employs an economic model it calls Gross National Happiness.

“After 30 years of applying this ancient principle, we’ve discovered it’s more important than gross domestic product,” former Prime Minister Kinzang Dorji said in a March 2008 interview. “GNH is a method of balancing sustainable growth against the often damaging results of rampant wealth.”

The Happy Planet Index, compiled by the London-based New Economics Foundation, an independent group promoting alternative forms of economic thinking, ranks Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica as the countries with the highest happiness rankings among 143 countries surveyed in 2009. The U.S. ranked 114th and Zimbabwe last. The HPI takes into account factors such as life expectancy, life satisfaction and resource consumption. Läs mer »

Tour operators confused over tariff liberalisation

January 14: An executive order from the cabinet to liberalize tariff for tourists has left many tour operators in the country in a state of confusion. The executive order was issued in November last year.The order says that this is being done to attract at least one hundred thousand tourists by 2012. Most tour operators said this will have a serious impact on the culture and identity of the country. Läs mer »

Bhutan has secured the best place to live in among South Asian countries, after securing the 75th position overall out of 194 countries surveyed for standards of living, according to the 2010 Quality of Life Index published by travel magazine International Living. Läs mer »

The reservation system, which is linked to the Drukair website, has two categories to cater to businesses and individual customers. “It will now be possible to view the schedule, view the flight information, make reservations, view booked ticket and account statement and even reprint the ticket by just a click,” said Druk Air’s general manager (commercial), Tshering Penjor. “This service will remove difficulties faced with ticket reservation. Just log in to drukair.com.bt.”
Click on Drukair under Links.

Business Bhutan 12.12.09

PM signs historic climate declaration

Yesterday, Bhutan did what it believes would be a contribution to save the dying planet against the backdrop of haunting realities of climate change. The prime minister, Lyonchen Jigmi Y. Thinley, signed a national declaration committing to absorb more carbon than Bhutan emits (the condition is called carbon neutral) “for all times to come.”The document is called the “Declaration of the Kingdom of Bhutan – the Land of Gross National Happiness to Save our Planet.”

The bold declaration comes when 192 countries are negotiating in the Danish capital of Copenhagen to come up with a new global deal to tackle climate change. In the first week of negotiation that started Monday, talks have only worsened with mounting differences between the developed and developing countries and a global deal looks difficult, if not impossible.
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