King leads Bhutanese delegation to IPU
The National Council Chairperson Sonam Kinga led an 8-member delegation consisting of parliamentarians from both Houses to attend the 132nd Assembly of the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU) in Hanoi, Vietnam from 28 March to 1 April.
Addressing the IPU Assembly on the first day of the General Debate, Kinga stated that while it is inspiring to see international community working to place SDGs as the centrepiece of a new global agenda, Bhutan has been pursuing sustainable development as the centrepiece of its development agenda for decades.
As responsible member of international community, Bhutan has also consciously aligned its development agenda with overall global targets. He said, “MDGs maybe unfinished business for many nations but for Bhutan, most goals have been either achieved or are on track of being achieved on time.”
Kinga said that Bhutan’s journey towards sustainable development and efforts to achieve MDGs have come at a high premium. He cited examples of tension between preservation of forests and wildlife and impacts on farmers’ livelihood as a result of wildlife depredation of crops. He also highlighted how Bhutan serves as net carbon sink for greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere and how hydropower projects, the backbone of Bhutan’s economy, remains vulnerable to glacial melting as a result of climate change.
‘Unless the huge global community is sensitive to such premiums being paid by small societies, gains made can either slide back or future efforts compromised particularly in a democratic polity where compulsions of short electoral cycle can undermine long term national vision and global visions,” he said.
The Bhutanese delegation also attended the one-day conference on the Role of Parliamentarians on the power of nutrition for development on 2 April.
The IPU is an international parliamentary organisation founded in 1889. It brings together parliamentarians to work towards peace and cooperation among peoples.
Bhutan became the 163rd member of IPU on 7 October 2013.IPU has 166 parliaments of the world as members today.