January - February 2017 Volume 2, Issue 1

Tshongdrel

BHUTAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY“Under the patronage of the Fifth Druk Gyalpo”

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European Union delegationThe European Union (EU) high-level member delegation led by H.E. Mr. Tomasz Kozlowski, EU Ambassador to Bhutan, New Delhi with 10 other delegates had a brief meeting with Aum Phub Zam, President of BCCI and few members from sector associations on 1st February 2017.

Acknowledging importance of the role

of private sector in Bhutanese economy, the delegations were committed to assist our private sector. However, most of the delegates had an opinion that Bhutan should prioritize the sector and work on possible assistance required, in order for EU to support our private sector. While Bhutan is looking for access to market for some of the organic produce,

Continued in page 2

Bi-monthly Newsletter

Seventh Bhutan-India Regional Friendship Trade FairThe 7th Bhutan-India Regional Friendship Trade Fair (7th BIRFTF) was organized at Gelephu from 26 - 30 January 2017 with support from the Embassy of India in Bhu-tan. The fair was inaugurated by Dasho Dawala, Dzongda, Dzong-khag Administration, Sarpang Dzongkhag on 26th January 2017. The 7th BIRFTF is an ideal win-dow to the cross border business opportunities particularly with the North-Eastern Region of India.

The primary objectives of this fair is:• To promote and strengthen

the existing bond of coopera-tion, friendship and goodwill at the people-to-people level be-tween Bhutan and India and,

• To promote bilateral trade between Bhutan and India through display and showcase of wide range of products and services under one roof.

This year, the 7th BIRFTF brought together various artisans and

ཚོང་འབྲེལ།• Promoting Bhutanese products in

Alipurduar Trade Show...................2

• Business delegation from CII ........3

• New Year Market Fair in Taiwan.....3

• Empowering business members with basic accounts knowledge......4

• An endeavor to ease transition of Bhutanese consignments...............4

• C-Suite business connection program..........................................5

Inside Issue

The EU high-level member delegation meets with the President of BCCI and few members from sector associations

Dasho Dzongda inaugurating the 7th BIRFTF in GelephuContinued in page 2

Bhutan Education Fair 2017Date: March 25 & 26, 2017Venue: Changlimithang Stadium Park-ing, Thimphu

For participation, contact:Deki Chhoden at dekicbsd@gmail.com, 17799770Sonam Choden atchodensbsd@gmail.com, 17615929

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BCCI Newsletter 2017

(Continued from Page 1)European Union delegation

Seventh Bhutan-India Regional Friendship Trade Fair

Promoting Bhutanese products in Alipurduar Trade Show

weavers from bordering area of India and Bhutan showcasing numerous arts and crafts that are inimitable. The 7th BIRFTF has served as a pavement to-wards better business relationship be-tween Bhutan and India by strengthen-ing the Indo-Bhutan friendship ties in business level.

A total of 53 exhibitors were part of the fair including 8 Bhutanese, 11 from BRAWFED, 5 from NEDFI and 29 from Alpha Associates occupying 62 stalls. Several parallel activities such as Photo Exhibition, buyer-seller meet, live cook-ing of Bhutanese and Indian cuisine, and cultural programs were organized duringthefivedaysperiod.

With support from relevant stakeholders in Gelephu this friendship trade fair is a collaborative endeavor with the owner-ship shared by BCCI as the organizer and the District Administration, Sarpang as the local host.

(Continued from Page 1)

Picture Story: Five Bhutanese companies from Phuentsholing and

Samtse took part in Alipurduar Trade Show, West Bengal held from 7-14 Janu-ary 2017. To promote and strengthen trade links between two nations, the or-ganizers offered free stalls and logistics to Bhutanese participants. Other countries like Nepal and Bangladesh were also part of the fair besides India and Bhutan.

ReportbyBSD&GelephuRegionaloffice,BCCI

Report by Sonam Cheki for BSD, BCCI

delegates suggested on exploring EU as niche market for Bhutanese produce. They recommended on connecting through Singapore or Bangkok to EU market taking advantage of having daily flightsfromthosetwocountriestoEU.

Meanwhile, delegates promised to facilitate Bhutanese business delegation

to EU through their Embassies in Delhi if our private sectors are interested.

Some of the delegates expressed their interest in IT, tourism and hydro power sector to collaborate between Bhutanese companies and EU member countries.

Fancy decoration of Bhutanese stall in Alipurduar Trade Show

Report by Phuentsholing Regional Office, BCCI

Business delegation from Confedera-tion of Indian Industry (CII)

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BCCI Newsletter 2017

The BCCI regional office of Phuentsholing hosted the delegation from CII, the North Bengal zonal office together with officials from Sikkim State of-fice on 19th January 2017. They were in Bhutan to explore potential business opportunities for pro-motion of trade between border cities of Bhutan and India. The delegation met with Phuentsholing business community and had discussion on some of the trade barriers while trading with/via India.

ReportbyPhuentsholingRegionalOffice,BCCI

New Year Market Fair in Taiwan

Ten Bhutanese firms comprising of local artisans, handicraft retail-ers and herbal products producers were part of the Taiwan New Year market fair that was convened on 12-16 January 2017. 2017 New Year market fair featured interna-

tional showcases and a huge line-up of high-quality products with exhibitors from 20 countries that included Japan, Canada, Vietnam, Nepal, Turkey and Bhutan.

With repeated participation in

CII delegation with business members of Phuentsholing

Representing country during official opening of the fair

such platform in Taiwan, our prod-ucts have gained popularity among Taiwanese. This year’s exhibits in-cluded thankas and artwork paint-ings, herbal teas, and incense sticks and powders among other items that are mostly preferred by Tai-wanese.

Our ultimate goal for encouraging such participation is to promote

Bhutanese arts and crafts, and lo-cally made products in interna-tional market to boost our export index besides benefitting our ar-tisans. As the Chinese New Year was just a fortnight away after the fair, it was the “stock up time” for the Taiwanese families to prepare for reunions, celebrations and fes-tivals. The fair was therefore, the right platform for the Taiwanese

that provided a one-stop shopping destination with diversified prod-ucts and ideal forum for the ex-hibitors to promote their products.

The five days New Year Market Fair was an Asia’s top New Year show in Taiwan and unfolded with thousands of buyers from different countries.

Exhibitors to the fairBhutan Pavilion

Report by: Deki Chhoden & Jigme Wangchuk, BSD

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Empowering business members with basic accounts knowledge

An endeavor to ease transition of Bhutanese consignments

A team led by Deputy Secretary General of BCCI and other representatives from sector associations had a field visit to Hasimara Railway Station on 5th January 2017 to study the current condition of yard and space available in Hasimara Railway Sta-tion for Bhutanese consignments. This visit was in line with the meeting held in 20th December 2016 with Indian Railway officials and Container Cor-poration of India to assist the Bhutanese business houses in smooth transit of consignments via/to India.

The December meeting had discussion on pos-sibility of setting-up container terminal for Bhu-tanese consignments with adequate space and fa-cilitates based in Hasimara Railway Station. The Indian Railway officials committed in December meeting that they will improve the facilities and provide more space for Bhutanese consignment with pre-feasibility study that had already been carried out by them. Work to improve the facili-ties is expected to start soon.

A detailed report on the visit has been submitted to Ministry of Economic Affairs for further dis-cussion and necessary support.

Report by RO, BCCI, Phuentsholing

Forty business members of Tsirang underwent basic accounts manage-ment training from 19-21 January 2017. With increasing issue arising concerning poor accounts man-agement within our business com-munities, the training was intend-ed for providing hands-on practice on manual accounts preparation with basic financial concepts.

One of the ultimate goals was also to enable business members to un-derstand and guide them while fil-ing business income tax.

During the three-days training, it was observed that the participants were able to analyze and interpret basic financial information more appropriately. Besides, trainees

were able to communicate finance related matters more effectively than before. Indeed, the train-ing has helped them to keep daily transaction records to assist them during the time of filing business income tax besides knowing their financial position and ultimately understanding the business status.

Similar training was also organized in Dagana from 4-6 February 2017 that was attended by 45 partici-pants from Dagana business com-munity.

Both the trainings were organized by the BCCI with support from Ministry of Labour and Human Resources.

BCCI Newsletter 2017

During the site visit to Hasimara Railway station

Report by Sonam Dorji, HRD, BCCI

Participants from Dagana

Participants from Tsirang for the “Basic Accounts Management Training”

BCCI Newsletter 2017

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C-Suite business connection programA second batch of eight-member business delegation was sent to Malaysia comprising of delegates from hotel and restaurant associa-tion of Bhutan hosted by Malay-sian Institute of Management. The program themed “C-suite busi-ness connection” was to initiate exchange of ideas and create prob-able avenues for collaboration be-tween the two hospitality sectors.

A week long networking program had experts visiting from vari-ous backgrounds to share their professional experience and some exposure visits. The guest speak-ers included President of Malaysia Association of Hotels, Director of Lumira Hotels and Resorts, and Chairman of Malaysian Institute of Management among others.

The participants had an exposure visit to Eastin Hotel, an award win-ner of world luxury hotel 2015 and winner of certificate of excel-lence 2016 from tripadvisor. They also had a visit to one of the finest craft producer of pewter in Malay-sia, the Tumasek Pewter factory. The program was held from 15-21 January 2017.

Participants in Malaysian Institute of Management

Report by HRD, BCCI

Picture Story

Burning-off the asparagus bed to warm-up the soil for new shoots as suggested by our experts, Agricultur-ist in Dolungang. Under the framework of One-District-Three-Products initiative of BCCI, Dolungang a farming commu-nity located midway between Sarpang and Gelephu embarked on pilot cultivation of “Mary Washington” asparagus in 2016. A total of 24,000 crowns have been planted on 2 acres of private land by three households.

AnupdatefromGelephuRegionalOffice,BCCI

About Bhutan Chamber of Commerce & IndustryTheBCCIwasestablishedasanon-governmentandnon-profitserviceorientedorganizationin1980undertheRoyalCom-mandofHisMajestytheFourthDrukGyalpowithatraditionalroleofaugmentingandsupplementingtheeffortsoftheRoyalGovernment towards development of a formal private sector. The BCCI now function as the apex body of the private sector and represents business communities of Bhutan. The organization is managed by a team of honorary members elected forafixedtermandasalariedSecretaryGeneraloverseeingtheday-to-dayfunctioningoftheorganization.Thehonorarymembers comprising of President, Vice Presidents, and the Executive Committee Members are elected for the term of three years.

The BCCI have a vision to embark on developing private sectors with organization’s slogan of “Towards Private Sector Development” and is guided by the mission statement as below:

Act as the pro-active body, inspiring economic growth development in the country by promoting a dynamic and competitive business in Bhutan.

Advocate for vibrant business sector that promote sustainable economic development through promotion of trade and investment by facilitating competitiveness and growth for increased investment, productivity and trade.

Connect businesses and expand member opportunities by providing outstanding member services, with an aim to contribute to Bhutan Sustainable Economic development through expansion and institutional linkages and net-works in the regional and global market.

Safeguardtheoverallrightsandbenefitsofmembersandprovideleadershipandqualityservicestofosteranen-abling business sector environment generate gainful employment and create wealth for the country.

Facilitate entrepreneurship through Human Resource Development of the Private Sector.

BHUTAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY POST BOX 147, DOEBUM LAM, CHUBACHU, THIMPHU

TEL: +975-2-324254/322742, FAX: +975-2-323936Email: info@bcci.org.bt

Website: www.bcci.org.bt

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Newsletter Manager and Editor Sonam Cheki

BCCI

BCCI Newsletter 2017

Scan QR code to visit BCCI website Layout & Design: ICT Division

Regional Office Address:Phuentsholing: Tel.: 05 254961 Fax: 05 254960, Bumthang: 03 631187, Mongar: Tel.: 04 641293 Fax: 04 641358

Gelephu: Tel.: 06 252021 Fax: 06 252022, Samdrup Jongkhar: 07 251813 Fax: 07 251814