Mr. Chairman, Hon. Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh;
Heads of State and Government of fellow SAARC Countries;
Secretary General of SAARC;
Representatives of Observer States and Organizations;
Distinguished Delegates;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
1. It is a great pleasure for me to address the Fourteenth SAARC Summit
taking place in the historic city of New Delhi. My delegation joins
me in expressing our deep appreciation to you, Mr. Chairman, and the
people and the Government of India for the warm reception and hospitality
extended to us. We also greatly appreciate the excellent arrangements
made for this meeting.
2. I extend my warm felicitations and best wishes to you, Mr. Chairman,
as you assume the important responsibility of leading our Association
towards a prosperous South Asia. We are confident that the SAARC process
will receive renewed impetus and dynamism under your able leadership.
In this endeavour, I assure you of Bhutan's full support and cooperation.
3. The people and government of Bangladesh deserve our deep appreciation
for leading and guiding the SAARC process since the Thirteenth Summit.
We commend the efforts of former Prime Minister Her Excellency Begum
Khaleda Zia and the Government of Bangladesh to make the SAARC process
meaningful and effective.
4. We also commend the Secretary General of SAARC and his able team
for carrying out the numerous directives entrusted to them and for the
efficient manner in which the Secretariat continues to serve and facilitate
the work of our Association.
5. This Summit marks an important milestone in the history of our Association
with the admission of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as a Member
State. The people and the Royal Government of Bhutan join me in felicitating
and extending a warm welcome to His excellency President Hamid Karzai.
We are confident that Afghanistan's membership will add strength and
vitality to the SAARC process.
6. Likewise, the inclusion of several Observers at this Summit attests
to the growing interest in SAARC and it gives me great pleasure to extend
a warm welcome to them.
Mr. Chairman,
7. At the Thirteenth Summit, we commemorated the 20th Anniversary of
our Association and recognized that it was time for SAARC to consolidate
its gains and chart a forward-looking strategy to realize our objectives.
We stressed upon the need to translate pledges and commitments into
concrete actions, regional initiatives and projects. Let us live up
to this commitment.
8. Economic co-operation and free trade lie at the heart of successful
regionalism. The signing and ratification of SAFTA symbolized our collective
commitment to enhance intra-SAARC trade. The larger economies of our
region are experiencing high growth rates and this augurs well for us
by way of creation of vast economic opportunities. We must, therefore,
implement SAFTA and its Trade Liberalization Programme in earnest.
Mr. Chairman,
9. While SAARC has rightly accorded the highest priority to promotion
of the welfare of our peoples, millions in our region continue to live
in inhuman conditions of want and deprivation. In this context, we are
happy to note that the First Meeting of SAARC Ministers on Poverty Alleviation
arrived at a broad agreement on the outlines of various short-term and
long-term programmes to meaningfully observe the SAARC Decade for Poverty
Reduction 2006-2015.
10. Likewise, at the Thirteenth Summit, we endorsed the SAARC Development
Goals as the regional consensus for a comprehensive and strategic response
to the problems of poverty alleviation and social development. We must
work in earnest towards achieving the SDGs by internalizing these goals
into our respective planning processes.
l 1. A pressing challenge we face in the pursuit of our social and
economic agenda is the availability of resources. In this regard, we
need to operationalize the SAARC Development Fund as a viable and effective
funding mechanism to implement sub-regional and regional projects. This
assumes particular importance as we strive to focus on implementation
in the third decade of SAARC.
Mr. Chairman,
12. We demonstrated our collective resolve and determination to protect
and promote the well-being of our women and children with the ratification
of the SAARC Conventions on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in
Women and Children for Prostitution; and Promotion of Child Welfare.
However, it is a cause for deep concern that, within and across our
borders, trafficking in women and children is widespread. We must, therefore,
redouble our efforts and put in place effective mechanisms under these
Conventions so that the vulnerable segments of our societies receive
the protection and attention that they deserve.
13. Transnational issues such as terrorism, drug trafficking and HIV
(AIDS) must be addressed through a well-coordinated regional approach.
The menace of terrorism is a serious threat to all our countries diverting
our efforts and scarce resources away from pressing socio-economic issues.
We must, therefore, strengthen our efforts to combat and eradicate these
evils.
14. Cooperation in Environment and Disaster Management is an area that
could impact meaningfully on our people as human life is fundamentally
dependent on natural systems and resources. I am pleased to report that
the SAARC Forestry Center (SFC) will be established in Bhutan as a center
of excellence in the field of environment and forestry. Among others,
the Center will facilitate research and education, participatory forest
management, mountain ecology and sustainable forest management.
Mr. Chairman,
15. Energy is vital to achieve sustained socio-economic growth. We
must harness our collective potential to achieve energy adequacy, reliability,
efficiency and security through optimal development and utilization
of our energy resources. In doing so, we need to focus on sustainable
and environment friendly development and use of energy. Bhutan's experience
in this area has been a successful one. With the support and cooperation
of India, we are making rapid progress in harnessing our hydropower
potential to generate clean and reliable energy for our mutual benefit.
16. My delegation notes with appreciation the progress being made towards
the fruition of the proposals made by India at the Thirteenth Summit.
The SAARC Telemedicine Network, the South Asian University and the SAARC
Museum of Textiles and Handicrafts are schemes that will be of great
benefit to our people. Similarly, the SAARC Car Rally has served to
connect and unite us at the people-to-people level.
Mr. Chairman,
17. As we endeavour to take the SAARC process forward, my delegation
would like to highlight the need to rationalize and prioritize the areas
of cooperation and avoid proliferation of activities and programmes.
Let us commit ourselves to come up with focused, result-oriented and
time-bound projects and programmes that bring about tangible benefits
to our people. Only then will we fulfill the vision and aspirations
of our Founding Fathers and make regional cooperation under SAARC truly
meaningful.
Mr. Chairman,
18. The beginning of the 21st Century is marked by a growing sense
of disaffection with our unfulfilling way of life among thinkers, ordinary
people and policy makers alike. Their search for a holistic, meaningful
and sustainable paradigm for true human advancement is bringing Bhutan's
development philosophy of Gross National Happiness or GNH into global
focus. Conceived by our fourth King, His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck
in the early 1970s, GNH is based on the belief that if happiness is
the ultimate desire of every individual, then it is the responsibility
and purpose of the State to create those conditions that enable the
citizens to realize this value. It reasons that happiness is essentially
all about equilibrium. It abounds when there is harmony between man
and nature; equity of opportunities among citizens; accord between leaders
and the governed; balance between material and spiritual pursuits.
19. Through tireless and selfless dedication, our fourth King has guided
Bhutan's process of development cautiously and deliberately towards
GNH. Bhutan has never accepted GDP, the economic indicator, as a comprehensive
measure of societal growth and has confined it to its rightful place.
We use it only as a measure of the sum total of goods and services produced
in a country at a given time. Bhutan's development has been value based
and human centered. Our country shall continue to strive for sustainable
and equitable socio-economic growth; conservation of our fragile mountain
environment; promotion and preservation of basic human values; and strengthening
of good governance.
Mr. Chairman,
20. In the final analysis, the progress of a nation is contingent upon
the quality of its governance system. History will speak of our fourth
King as a monarch who persevered with great conviction, over the odds
of his own remarkable popularity, to distance himself from the center
of power. He believed that good governance can best prevail in a system
where the people are masters of their own destiny. Having put in place
all the institutional arrangements for a vibrant democracy, and having
supervised the crafting of a uniquely democratic Constitution, His Majesty
retired as the ruler of His Kingdom at the early age of fifty-one in
December 2006.
21. Bhutan is now set on the irreversible path to a full fledged parliamentary
democracy as a Constitutional Monarchy. The people of Bhutan look forward
to the Year 2008 with great anticipation, albeit with some anxiety.
It will be the year that will usher in multi party politics and a set
of leaders who will be directly accountable to the people through the
ballot. It will be the year that the Bhutanese people will pay tribute
to the Dynasty that has brought peace, stability and progress as we
celebrate the Centenary of the Monarchy. Above all, it will be the year
that our fifth Ruler, His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck will
be formally coronated amid great jubilation. Indeed, as we stand at
the threshold of these momentous developments, we are greatly comforted
by the fact that we have an equally capable visionary and leader in
the person of our fifth King to lead and guide the country at a very
significant juncture of its history. At the same time, the leaders and
people of Bhutan will also look to SAARC and each member of our Association
for support, inspiration and greater cooperation.
Thank You and Tashi Delek!
