At a meeting with visiting Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday reiterated India’s continued support for socio-economic reforms in the Himalayan nation as the two countries pledged to remain in close touch with regard to their security concerns.
Briefing reporters after the meeting between the two leaders, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said the talks between them covered the entire gamut of bilateral ties, including issues of respective national interests.
Asked whether the issue relating to Doklam, the scene of the 2017 India-China stand-off, figured in the talks, Kwatra did not say anything directly but stated that India and Bhutan remained in close touch relating to security cooperation. ”The Government of India very closely follows all developments which have a bearing on our national interests and we will take all necessary measures to safeguard them as necessary,” he added.
New Delhi’s comments came in the wake of Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering’s recent remarks on the Doklam tri-junction that Beijing has an equal say in finding a resolution to the dispute over the high-altitude plateau which New Delhi believes has been illegally occupied by China.
The foreign secretary said the visit of the Bhutanese King to India provided an opportunity for the two countries to sketch a roadmap to further expand cooperation in diverse areas.
It was agreed that India would step up its support for Bhutan’s upcoming 13th five-year plan. India would work to extend an additional standby credit facility. ”We will work to shape long-term sustainable arrangements for the export of agricultural commodities from Bhutan. We will also work to develop long-term bilateral arrangements for assured supply of critical commodities like petroleum, coal,” the foreign secretary added.
“Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is on a special visit to India. His ongoing visit was long in the planning and takes forward the long exchanges between India and Bhutan,” Kwatra added.
He said, “India and Bhutan share an exemplary relationship based on trust, goodwill and mutual understanding. It is a time-tested friendship that was reflected in the Covid Maitri programme during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Kwatra said that this visit of “His Majesty has been long in the planning and it takes forward the “long-standing tradition of regular high-level exchanges between India and Bhutan just to sketch the outline frame of the cooperation between our two countries in the expansion of our partnership into some of the newly emerging areas and domains of economic cooperation which includes digital domain space, a new area, financial connectivity and increasing interoperability etc.”