The European Union reassured that their assistance to Bhutan would continue beyond 2020.

This reassurance was made on April 1 after ambassador Kesang Wangdi, who is the foreign affairs ministry’s director general of bilateral division, signed the agreed minutes of the seventh biennial consultation with the European external action service’s deputy managing director for Asia and Pacific, Paola Pampaloni.

The seventh biennial consultation between Bhutan and EU was held in Brussels on November 23 last year.

A press release from the foreign affairs ministry said Bhutan receives additional assistance from other regional and thematic funding mechanisms of the EU in areas such as education, climate change and trade.

“The agreed minutes recognizes the progress made in the implementation of the multi annual indicative programme (MIP) for the period 2014-2020 and reaffirms EU’s continued partnership with Bhutan,” it stated.

It also stated the EU commitment for the current cycle (2014-2020) has been revised to Euro 45.5 million (M) and this represents an increase of 3.5M Euro from the original allocation. “The EU has provided Euro 5M for climate change adaptation and will provide Euro 4 million for a project to promote trade diversification.

The Bhutanese delegation highlighted the priority areas for the 12th Plan and underscored the importance of EU’s engagement with Bhutan’s development plan beyond 2020.

Staff reporter