8th South Asian Bodybuilding Championship will held in Thimphu Bhutan

The buses that chauffeured bodybuilders from five of the eight SAARC member nations between Paro airport and Thimphu must have felt unusually heavy yesterday.

Besides the luggage and other officials, it was carrying, close to 100 men of steel weighing between 50kg and more than 100kg from Maldives, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nepal to participate in the 8th South Asian Bodybuilding Championship, which will be held at clock tower square in Thimphu between June 3 and 4.

Participants from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh could not make it.

Executive committee members of the World Bodybuilding federation and South Asian Bodybuilding federation are also expected to participate as officials for the event.

“The championships will be held under nine weight categories between 55kg and 90kg and go on up to super-heavy weight category,” officials said. “It’s the first time that a prestigious international sporting event is being hosted in the country.”

The Bhutan Olympic committee, in association with the Bhutan Bodybuilding and Weightlifting federation will be organising the event.

ྠྠྠྠྠSource: Kuenselonline

Bhutan and the Maldives have signed an Air Services Agreement

Bhutan and the Maldives have signed an Air Services Agreement, paving the way for the two high-end tourist destinations to be connected by direct flights or flights transiting through other countries in the region.

The flight details and routes will be worked out between the airlines of the two countries, one a tourist hot spot on the roof of the world and the other an ultimate destination for those interested in sunbathing and deep sea diving.

The Maldives Minister for Transport and Communication, Mohamed Adil Saleem, and the Secretary for Information and Communications in Bhutan, Dasho Kinley Dorji, signed the agreement on May 8, 2011. They emphasised the fact that air connectivity was vital for tourism and broader economic development. High-end tourists could find the connection a very attractive possibility with the tourism industry viewing both countries as niche markets.

Bhutan, which saw about 40,000 tourists last year, is currently building three new domestic airports. The Maldives, which is constructing its third international airport, has achieved an escalation of tourist numbers to about 800,000 tourists a year and is still expanding.

With Bhutan holding the chairmanship of SAARC, the agreement is also a step forward in one of SAARC’s goals, to connect all the capitals of the region.

Source: Kuenselonling

Bhutan and Nepal will resume talks

Bhutan and Nepal will resume talks on the issue of the people in the camps in Nepal, said Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley at Paro airport yesterday. Lyonchhoen was returning after a six-day trip to Nepal and Afghanistan. He visited the two countries in his capacity as the current chairperson of SAARC.

Talks between Bhutan and Nepal on the issue of the people in the camps were suspended in 2003, when members of the Bhutanese joint verification team were attacked by a mob at one of the camps located in eastern Nepal. Until then, 15 ministerial-level talks had been held.

While in Nepal, Lyonchhoen also insisted that the Nepalese government work on the compensation for the Tara Air crash victims’ families. Eighteen Bhutanese were killed, when their plane crashed in Nepal last December.

Lyonchhoen and the Nepalese prime minister, Jhala Nath Khanal, discussed strengthening and deepening relations between the two countries. They agreed to renew a trade agreement to boost bilateral trade. They also agreed to renew and revise a bilateral air services agreement, which could see national airline Drukair operating between Bagdogra, India and Kathmandu, Nepal.

As the current chairperson of SAARC, Lyonchhoen was following up on the implementation of measures reached during the 16th SAARC summit here in Thimphu.

During the three-day visit to Afghanistan, Lyonchhoen met with President Hamid Karzai and with First Vice President Marshall Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Second Vice President Mohammad Karim Khalili.

He said that President Karzai’s trip to Bhutan and his visit to Kabul have enabled the two countries to strengthen and deepen bilateral relations, have a deeper understanding of each other, to work together.

The prime minister was accompanied by the economic affairs minister and minister-in-charge of foreign affairs, Khandu Wangchuk, ambassador of Bhutan to Nepal and officials from the prime minister’s office and foreign ministry.

He described the visit as one that “was committed to deepen and strengthen relations of Bhutan with both Nepal and Afghanistan.”

Source: Kuenselonline

Lyonchhoen attributes to combined Bhutanese efforts

India and Pakistan, two nations wrought under a spell of belligerence, returned to their respective nations yesterday, back to talking terms, amid hopes of forging ahead with a new peace process.

Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai and some other SAARC delegates were seen performing Trashi Labey in Bhutanese national dress at the Bhutan house, the night before leaving the kingdom.

Some delegates were said to have been moved to tears from the hospitality they received in Bhutan and the Bhutanese ambience, which helped them, for once, forget all troubles back home, on the day they were flying back.

They had promised to return, but without any official strings attached.

Although modest, the climate that the country had set for the SAARC heads of states to meet, they had said, would be difficult for nations, which will host the Summit next, to match.

All that was made possible, Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley said, because Bhutanese came together to ensure the success of an event of national and regional importance.

Heads of states and delegates, who attended the summit, along with observers and media representatives, Lyonchhoen said, left the country greatly satisfied and convinced that they were leaving with a unique experience.

“The experience of having observed a nation fulfilling a responsibility of an association, of which they have become a member despite many limitations,” he said. “They have seen how the people of this little country can come together to fulfill obligations that were indeed enormous.”

He explained that the DPT government undertook such a responsibility, against many who thought it was unreasonable and beyond the country’s means.

“I’d full confidence in the people of Bhutan, a country where we’ve always united against odds in the interest of the tsa-wa-süm (triple gem),” Lyonchhoen said.

The summit was important, he said, in the enhancement of the country’s sovereignty, in projecting it as one pursuing a unique development path and deserving sympathy and support of the global community.

He attributed the summit’s success to their Majesties the King and the fourth King and the royal family members for inspiration, valuable guidance and support, His Holiness for the blessings and dratsangs, drubdays and chhoedays whoch performed kurims.

“They propitiated our guardian deities and blessed us with a wonderful three days at a time when we were experiencing strong winds and heavy rainfall,” Lyonchhoen said.

The guests admired the quality of the services rendered, which he said was because civil servants, particularly in Thimphu and Paro, worked at odd hours from planning and management down to sweeping and cleaning toilets.

The welcome team, comprising principals, teachers and students, who stood along the main Thimphu-Paro highway giving dignitaries a feeling of joyous welcome extended on behalf of the entire Bhutanese citizens. So did the public, who came out of their shops, to greet guests, unlike in other cities.

“They were charmed and enchanted by the welcome that showed on the faces of our smiling children,” Lyonchhoen said.

The heads of states, he said, were at ease in terms of safety and security because Bhutanese soldiers and police ensured complete safety and security in the region throughout the summit.

“To this end I know hundreds of soldiers and police went hungry and thirsty in the jungles surrounding the capital, highways and along the streets,” Lyonchhoen said.

You, Lyonchhoen said, referring to Bhutanese citizens he was conveying his message to, “have made the country and me proud and I know the royal families are proud of us.”

Source: Kuenselonline

Bhutan hosting its first ever SAARC summit

It has been a hectic week in the capital, with Bhutan hosting its first ever SAARC summit that ended yesterday.

But at the end of it all there is a deep sense of satisfaction with everyone involved that all went well if not perfectly.

This sense is not only shared by those, who were directly involved in some way with the summit, but also by their friends and family members in the capital and beyond, who were equally tense about how it might go.

Such a feeling grew from the fact that a lot of preparation work was still going on or seemed to be going on even at the last minute.

The unusual weather a few days before the summit threatened to rip apart decorative flags hung all over the city.

There were stories about rushed coordination meetings with no agenda, the interiors of recently completed SAARC villas still smelling of fresh paint and volunteers, who would serve and prepare some meals for the dignitaries, doing some last minute crash course.

Thus a sense of uncertainty as the day drew close. And when it came, everyone did the best they could, starting early and staying late into the night, so that visiting dignitaries were comfortable and felt at home.

Still then the summit was not devoid of its awkward moments. There were stories of hungry angry grumbling journalists, who were ushered into the summit hall hours in advance, but there was nothing to eat once inside.

There were also rumours about how the lights went off in one villa, and the water running out for some time in another and about a canine getting to one delegate. All these incidents unfortunately are true.

But the overall ambience of the summit prevailed, which was one of friendship, harmony and cooperation. The summit in itself went the way it has always been. The leaders gave their speeches and certain declarations were adopted, but a shared sense of destiny for the region did seem to emerge at the end of it.

The summit proceedings broadcast live on national television was watched with interest all across the country, like people normally do when watching an international soccer match.

Today Bhutanese know more about SAARC than they ever did and children can identify the flags of SAARC nations as well as their leaders.

And the country’s organisational capacity to host such summits has been through the litmus test. If it came through, it is because everyone, despite differences, came together as a team.

Now it is time to get back to serving the people and addressing issues, like alleviating poverty, one of SAARC’s founding goals.

Source: Kuenselonline

News: Education ministers from the eight SAARC member nations met in Sri Lanka

Education ministers from the eight SAARC member nations met in Sri Lanka for the first meeting of the SAARC Ministers of Education this week.

Addressing the meeting, Bhutan’s education minister Lyonpo Thakur Singh Powdyel said that conference is important as education is the single most powerful instrument for the empowerment and development of the people.

Lyonpo Thakur said that South Asia is home to more than 20% of the world’s youth and one sixth of the world’s total population.

The education minister said that Bhutan is excited about the advent of the South Asian University as it will put the region back on the intellectual orbit.

Lyonpo added that with the advent of democracy in Bhutan, education is called upon to enlighten and empower the people to internalize the essentials of this new system and become its keepers and its custodians.

The meeting also deliberated on re-shaping and re-modeling higher education policies in South Asia to increase youth employment and to meet the needs of the 21st century.

Source: BBS