The European Union(EU) handed over € 20 M to the government, today. The EU Ambassador to Bhutan, Tomasz Kozlowski officially gave the money to the Secretary of the Gross National Happiness Commission, Thinley Namgyel in the capital.
The grant will be used for empowering Local Governance and public finance management. The grant is a part of the EU’s multi-annual indicative programme, started in 2014.
The objective of the support is to assist the Bhutanese government in alleviating poverty and inequality, and to promote carbon neutral development in the country.
Ambassador Tomasz Kozlowski reaffirmed EU’s determination to continue its support to Bhutan.
“This grant is given as budgetary support, it means that money will be handled by the Government of Bhutan which is a new form of our cooperation. We hope that this money will be used for empowering Local Governments in Bhutan and including fiscal decentralisation, one of the objectives which was mentioned by His Majesty The King in December”.
EU assisted projects cover areas such as agriculture, livestock, good governance, renewable natural resources, disaster management, and climate change. Diplomatic relations between the EU and Bhutan were established in 1985.
European Union is a unique economic and political union between 28 European countries. It was founded in the Netherlands in November 1, 1993.
