Switzerland helps Bhutan on the path to modernity
A Swiss delegation recently returned from a visit to Bhutan to assess the progress of development aid projects in the Himalayan kingdom.
Switzerland’s federal system is proving a useful reference tool for the country’s steps toward a modern democracy.
Bhutan, a small, remote country of just over 2.1 million people, has remained virtually cut off from the outside world for centuries.
But in recent years it has tentatively begun to modernise and open its borders.
Bhutan is a priority country for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), which has been active in the country since 1983.
In 2003, the agency spent more than SFr7.7 million ($6.1 million) in development aid in the kingdom.
The Swiss delegation to Bhutan was led by the former Senate president, Gian-Reto Plattner.
He told swissinfo that while the SDC’s work in Bhutan initially focused solely on development projects, the agency has in recent years begun to look at ways it can help in the political sphere.
“Now the SDC has started to offer more ideas, such as trying to teach people how a democracy works,” he says.
“There is still a lot of money flowing through SDC for development, but the important part is now this mental support rather than the material support.”
Swiss similarities
Plattner says Bhutan was pushed into moving away from its isolationist policy when other countries’ problems arrived on its doorstep.
Early in December, almost all of Bhutan’s 6,000 soldiers were engaged for the first time in a major military operation when they began driving Indian rebels out of hiding in the south of the kingdom.
The country’s king, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, is also under mounting pressure to take back some 100,000 Bhutanese who have been living in refugee camps in Nepal for over a decade.
“You cannot stay cut off from the world; you have to change with it, because the problems will catch up with you anyway,” says Plattner.
“In a way, it’s a similar situation to Switzerland,” he adds.
During his visit to the country, Plattner says he found that Bhutan is made up of regions that operate largely independently from each other, in a similar way to Swiss cantons.
“In such a situation a federalist democracy, like we have developed in Switzerland, might seem appropriate,” he says.
“We talked a lot about it with high-ranking officials. They are just finishing their first draft of the constitution and they were very interested in what our constitution was. I think they can learn a lot from Switzerland.”
Modernisation
But the Bhutanese people, according to Plattner, cherish their isolation.
“They are living in peace, they have never been colonised and they might have stayed like that.”
“Problems came into the country against their will. They made mistakes in dealing with them, so the king realised that something had to be done, and the best solution was to democratise the country.”
Commercial factors also played a part in the kingdom’s plans for modernisation, with its rapidly developing neighbour, India, one of the biggest influences.
Plattner says one of the most important steps taken by Bhutan was to start improving its educational system.
New industries
As the number of educated Bhutanese increases, so too will the need to create new industries to provide them with employment.
The options for domestic industries are limited, Plattner observes, although he sees some potential in the development of water-powered electricity, using the vast water reserves in the Himalayan plateaux.
The SDC itself is helping Bhutan to create more domestic industries and move away from the country’s reliance on subsistence farming.
The agency has even sent Swiss cows – which produce more milk than those native to Bhutan – and potatoes that are better suited to the mountainous terrain.
swissinfo, Joanne Shields
Life expectancy in Bhutan has risen over the past decade from 57 to 62 years.
Estimates for the population vary from 780,000 to 2.14 million, growing at a rate of approx 2.5 per cent each year.
Religion: 75 per cent Lamaistic Buddhist; 25 per cent Indian and Nepalese-influenced Hinduism.
King Jigme Singye Wangchuk came to power in 1972.
The Swiss Association for International Cooperation, or Helvetas, is also involved in a range of development projects in Bhutan.
Bhutan is a priority country for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), which spent SFr7.7 million on projects in the kingdom in 2003.
The agency funds development projects, such as educational and farming programmes, as well as projects to improve basic amenities.
It is now looking at how it can offer the kingdom political advice, based on Switzerland’s democratic and federal system.
Bhutan is trying to break away from its isolationist traditions and create a more open democracy.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.