GANDHINAGAR: Top US diplomat John Kerry on Sunday became the first American secretary of state to meet with a Bhutanese prime minister amid signs the remote Himalayan country is taking baby-steps towards opening up to the outside world.

On the sidelines of a major investment conference in the western Indian state of Gujarat, Kerry met with Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan, a country known for pursuing its citizens’ “happiness” rather than economic growth.

Asked why he was meeting now with the premier, Kerry said Bhutan has made “a transition to democracy and we are trying to work with them on their economy and support their thrust of how they want to balance their economy”.

“It’s very forward, very progressive, very, very interesting government in the midst of the region,” Kerry said, adding the US wanted to encourage the nation “to keep going down that path”.

Wedged between China and India, the sparsely-populated “Land of the Thunder Dragon” only got its first television sets in 1999, at a time when less than a quarter of households had electricity. Thanks to a massive investment in hydropower in the following decade-and-a-half, nearly every household is now hooked up to the electricity grid.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2015

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