Bhutan’s foremost goal is to increase Gross National Happiness. Raising economic growth is only a means to an end. Nevertheless, reducing poverty to 20 per cent is one of the key aims of the Bhutanese government.
This is no mean task: Its highland location makes it difficult to supply the population with water, power and public facilities. Building roads and bridges poses a great challenge. Austrian-Bhutanese cooperation focuses on energy supply for the whole country through electrification, hydropower and the use of efficient ovens.

Tourism at the foot of the Himalayas

In tourism as well, Bhutan relies on Austrian experience and know-how. In the current five-year plan, the country has set a target of 100,000 tourists a year. Work on this is already underway in infrastructure: Since 2005, an old hotel has been converted into an ultra-modern Hotel and Tourism Management and Training Institute (H&TMTI) with Austrian support. Bhutan bears the main costs of construction, with Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) providing equipment and machinery for the kitchen, IT technology and energy-saving components for ventilation, heating, hot water and sewage. Bhutanese teachers will be trained to the latest management principles at the institute so that they can continue the programme on their own.

From Austria to the Roof of the World

Development cooperation between the Kingdom and Austria started in the early 1980s. An ADC coordination office started operations in the capital Thimphu in 1994. As of 1998, activities are planned bilaterally and recorded in writing at annual consultations. A constitutional monarchy was introduced in the last Buddhist Himalayan kingdom in 2008.