The Prime Minister, Jigmi Y.Thinley, met with the United Nations’ Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon and United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Administrator, Helen Clark, in New York.
Lyonchhoen presented copies of the high level meeting on ‘Well Being and Happiness’, to the Secretary General, which was hosted by Bhutan in April this year. He thanked Ban Ki-Moon for his participation. “The Secretary General’s patronage further elevated the profile and greatly increased its impact,” said the Prime Minister.
The Secretary General said he was glad to see the concept of happiness getting wider support since the adoption of the resolution in 2011. “The concept resonated with me personally and I fully agreed that the goal of all development, including that of the MDG’s was to make people happy,” said Ban Ki-Moon. He said he was surprised by the huge turnout at the meeting in April and congratulated Bhutan for its success. He expressed the hope that sustainability based development would continue to gain momentum, to be broader based and embrace well-being and happiness as the main goal.
Lyonchhoen also thanked the UNDP and Helen Clark personally for her support in making the meeting a success. He said it was with the partnership of the UNDP that GNH made its international debut in 1998 and that Bhutan would count on its continued support in the future.
Lyonchhoen is on his way to attend the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio +20 which is being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Lyonchhoen is accompanied by the Foreign Secretary, Daw Penjo, GNH Commission Secretary, Karma Tshiteem, and the Permanent Representative of Bhutan to the United Nations, Ambassador Lhatu Wangchuk.
