This year marks the 15th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Bhutan and Australia.
As part of events being held to commemorate the milestone, the visiting Australian Ambassador to Bhutan, Harinder Sidhu, delivered a key note address on the Australia-Bhutan Education Partnership yesterday at the Royal University of Bhutan in Thimphu.
Ambassador Sidhu said while the diplomatic relations between the two countries is just 15 years old, the bilateral ties between the two countries dates much further. “We can trace our friendship to 1962 when Australia’s Prime Minister, Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, invited Bhutan to be an observer to the Colombo Plan meeting in Melbourne,” shared the Ambassador.
“By 2002, when the Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer announced that we would establish formal diplomatic ties with Bhutan, hundreds of Bhutanese students had already studied in Australia.”
Therefore, Ambassador Sidhu said the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries was as much a recognition of the growing ties between the two countries as it was a commitment to building on these foundations.
Echoing similar thoughts, Foreign Minister Damcho Dorji Bhutan had had a long association with Australia since the early 60’s. Australia, Lyonpo shared, had played a key role in facilitating Bhutan’s membership with the Colombo Plan, the country’s first membership to an international organization.
“The membership in the Colombo Plan in 1962 was the first and major foreign policy initiative towards becoming a member of the international community,” said Lyonpo.
The foreign minister thanked the government and the people of Australia for their continued support and goodwill. Lyonpo also highlighted the areas of cooperation between the two countries including partnership in education and human resource development and support in strengthening TVET.
Lyonpo also shared that as Bhutan gears towards graduating from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) category, many of its development partners are gradually phasing away their development assistance to Bhutan. But Australia, Lyonpo said has remained consistent and continue to provide support in Bhutan’s socio-economic development
