Donors commit support in 10th RTM

Thimphu, February 22: The tenth round table meeting of the Bhutan donors concluded in Thimphu on February 18, expressing continued support to country's transformation.

They expressed commitments in achieving goals and objectives set out in the tenth five year plan.

The tenth meeting saw 130 participants in 83 delegates from 14 countries, 20 multilateral agencies and 4 NGOs.

UNDP's acting assistant administrator David E Lockwood stressed the need to keep pace with the aspirations of the people for the success of the democratic transition.

“It’s common for electoral candidates to make promises that are often not met or not even realistic. But, for the new parliament to be credible, it’s important that development results on the ground are perceived to have increased in pace. Therefore, it’s more important than ever that development partners give fullest support to the tenth plan, which estimates that a little over half of the plan outlay depends on external financing," he said.

The tenth plan outlay is estimated at Nu 141.692 billion and domestic revenues, including other receipts, are expected to be sufficient to fund only around 46.3 percent of it. According to the draft tenth plan, the country will still require external assistance grants to the tune of Nu 56 billion to help meet its capital expenditure.

Education Minister Thinley Gyamtsho, expressed appreciation to the development partners for their goodwill and support in his concluding remarks at the meeting.

A joint statement issued after the meeting by Education Minister Thinley Gyamtsho, who chaired the meeting and UNDP's acting assistant administrator David E Lockwood, who co-chaired the meeting, said “Our requests for budgetary support from development partners to successfully implement the tenth plan was widely recognized, underpinning the democratic transition.” Bhutan News Service