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Category Archives: Press-release

Update: Press Release on High-Level Dialogue on RECI for Enhancing Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific

April 23, 2017 .

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) meeting on “High-level dialogue on regional economic cooperation and integration for Enhancing Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific” was held at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand from April 20-21 2017. Hon’ble Lyonpo D. N. Dhungyel, the Minister of the Ministry of Information and Communications attended the meeting. He was accompanied by Mr. Sonam P Wangdi, the Director General, Ministry of Economic Affairs , Mr. Jigme Thinlye Namgyal, the Director, Department of Information Technology & Telecom, MoIC, and Mr. Ugyen Dorji, DCM, Royal Bhutan Embassy Bangkok.

During the meeting, Hon’ble Lyonpo conveyed his appreciation for the work undertaken by UNESCAP and its member states, other organs of the United Nations and development partners in helping to implement various activities in line with the “Ministerial Declaration on Transport Development in Asia and the Pacific 2012” and the accompanying Regional Action Programme.

The Lyonpo thanked UNESCAP for inviting Bhutan and supporting our participation in various consultation meetings, workshops and seminars, both at the regional as well as sub-regional levels. This has helped in capacity and skills development at different levels.

In an effort to further enhance regional integration and cooperation, at least three high-level meetings were held last year between October and December:

1) High-level Meeting on Sustainable Transport of Landlocked Developing Countries in Bolivia (13-14 October 2016);
2) the first Global Sustainable Transport Conference held in Turkmenistan (26 to 27 November 2016), and
3) Transport Ministers Conference in Moscow (5-9 Dec 2016);

All the above meetings have placed adequate emphasis on the need to promote transport connectivity and regional integration.

Bhutan is also aware that Declarations from these high-level interventions have rightly recognized the need for priority attention to address specific requirements of small, low-income and geographically disadvantaged countries. Such a consideration is indeed, much appreciated.

The Asia Pacific region and UNESCAP have recognized that the development of

(a) Asian Highway (AH),

(b) Trans-Asian Railway Network (TAR),

(c) Asian Energy Highway, and

(d) Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway (APIS), are the building blocks for achieving regional integration and connectivity.

As for Bhutan, we are a party to the Intergovernmental Agreement on Asian Highway Network as of now. With regard to the Intergovernmental Agreements on TAR and Dry Port, it would perhaps be logical to wait for an appropriate time when these facilities are in place or become operational.

Much thoughts, efforts and resources have already gone into making these infrastructures operational. The bigger challenge, however, is to put these infrastructure into optimal use through suitable facilitation measures and simplification of regulations for cross-border movement and trade.

Regional integration, while desired, is often difficult. Owing to significant differences in the size of the country, population, geographical locations and the level of economic development, cross-border operation under a liberalized market condition often faces slow progress or challenges in the implementation. Bhutan is a member of regional co-operative framework such as SAARC and BIMSTEC and we are committed to regional economic cooperation and integration.

With regard to ICT connectivity, we have made rapid progress. While over 92 % of the population now use mobile services, Internet and broadband penetration is low at 75.44 % as of February 2017. Reducing the costs of Internet connectivity will go a long way in promoting e-governance, addressing digital divide and other unique difficulties faced by landlocked country like Bhutan. Much progress has been achieved on the development of AP-IS.

Four years have passed since the Bangkok Declaration on Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration was adopted. The Hon’ble Lyonpo stated that it’s time that we accelerate the implementation of the four pillars of the Declaration. Towards this, he noted with satisfaction that the Declaration has been endorsed by the ESCAP Commission through resolution 70/1 and the Lyonpo hoped that ESCAP Secretariat would be able to convene the second ministerial conference soon. He was also confident that ESCAP would continue to support the countries with special needs in enhancing their capabilities through technical assistance and resources so that they can effectively take advantage of the benefit of economic cooperation and regional integration. We will continue to participate actively in these endeavours.

Contact Person:Mr.Sangay Phuntsho.

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PRESS RELEASE

February 17, 2017 .

As a part of its annual planned activities, the Department of Information & Media (DoIM), MoIC, organized the following three training programmes:

  1. Digital Marketing and Marketing Skills- January 30-3 February 2017
  2. Host-caller Relationship and Counseling-6-7 February 2017
  3. Business and Financial Journalism- 13-17th February 2017

The participants comprise of journalists from private newspapers, marketing officers and radio jockeys from private as well as community radio stations.
The Media relation and Postal Communications Division(MRPCD), DoIM in consultation with the Journalist Association of Bhutan(JAB) had planned and organized the following trainings. The trainings were decided upon after receiving a list of recommended trainings from the Journalist Association of Bhutan. The trainings are being conducted with   RGOB funding.

As ‘high turnover’ of trained journalists has reportedly been a major challenge faced by the Bhutanese media today, these trainings, therefore, aims to equip the young reporters or journalists with the skills necessary for the job. This, we envisage, will only go on to improve the quality of journalism in Bhutan.

In-line with DoIM’s mandate “to promote media sector through coordination and facilitation of programs like training, seminars, workshops etc” the training programmes have been outsourced to Bhutan Media & Communications Institute following the Government competitive bidding procedure. Except for the training on Digital Marketing and Marketing Skills, the Resource Persons were local professionals.

The training programmes concludes on Friday with awarding of the certificates to participants by Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Information & Communications, at the Ministry’s Conference Hall at 2:00 P.M on Friday, 17 February 2017.

 

Contact Person: Ms. Tashi Choden

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Two days training on Social Media development

November 2, 2016 .

_dsc8589A two-day Training on Developing Agency Social Media Strategy for the Information and Media Officers (IMOs) and Media Focal Persons of different ministries and government agencies began today on November 2, 2016. The Department of Information & Media, Ministry of Information and Communications (MoIC), is organizing the training in collaboration with UN-APCICT (United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for ICT for Development).

Dasho Karma W Penjor, Hon’ble Secretary of the MoIC graced the opening session of the training. He stated that social media plays a vital role for dissemination of accurate information since youth are inclined to use social media. As such, social media tools must not be used only for personal use but institutionalize use of social media in all government systems to communicate and get feedback from the citizens for whom we are working for. Dahso emphasized it’s important that all the government websites and social networking site pages to have updated information. For that, the IMO and ICT personnel should play a very active and vital role._dsc8609

This training is one of the Department’s efforts towards undertaking continuous educational and awareness raising programmes and as a part of comprehensive social media training programme for the civil servants. Its objectives are: 1) Create awareness on the use of Social Media and Social Media Policy of the Royal Government of Bhutan for the IMOs; 2) Equip the IMOs with the required knowledge and skills in using Social Media for development and good governance; and 3) Get feedback on the use of Social Media, and its opportunities and challenges.

Dr. Emmanuel Lallana, who was involved in formulating the Social Media Policy for the Royal Government of Bhutan, is facilitating the training. The Policy was endorsed in January 2016.

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Press Release on 26th Universal Postal Union Congress held in Istanbul,Turkey

October 5, 2016 .

upu

Bhutanese delegation led by Hon’ble Minister of Information and Communications, Lyonpo DN Dhungyel,Dasho Karma Wangchuk Penjor (Hon’ble Secretary of MoIC) and Chairman of Bhutan Post, Mr. Karma Wangdi, CEO of the Bhutan Post, and officials from MoIC and Bhutan Post are attending the 26th Universal Postal Union (UPU) Congress in Istanbul, Turkey from 20th September, 2016 till 7th Oct,2016. The opening ceremony was presided over by the Turkish Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim.

Hon’ble Lyonpo and Hon’ble Chairman attended the Ministerial Conference scheduled for 4th October, 2016 and plenary sessions thereafter while the rest of the delegation have been attending meetings on Development Cooperation, General Policy, Finances and matters related to international postal services.

upu1

Representatives from the UPU’s 192 member states have gathered at the 26th UPU Congress in Istanbul, Turkey, to set the agenda for the 2017-2020 cycle. The Congress is the supreme decision-making authority of the Union and meets every four years to define and adopt the road map for UPU activities for each work cycle.

The UPU Congress has framed a strategy centred on three goals: improving the interoperability of the postal network, ensuring sustainable and modern postal products, and fostering effective market sector functioning. The Union made many achievements during the Doha cycle, however, the postal sector still faces a new frontier with the development of new technologies, increased demand for e-commerce and emergence of new competitors.

upu2

Besides discussing opportunities and challenges for the Postal sector, some of the highlights of the Congress are the proposal for UPU institutional reform; which is to merge the UPU’s Council of Administration (CA) and Postal Operations Council (POC) into one UPU Council and election of member countries as candidates for these UPU bodies.The member countries believe that this structural transformation will speed up the decision-making process and make UPU more efficient and effective.

As part of the proceedings, the UPU director general and deputy director general will be elected. The Congress will end with its closing plenary on 7th October 2016.

Bhutan became a member of the UPU in 1969, two years before becoming a member of the United Nations. Since then Bhutan has been an active member of the United Nations body. Besides being instrumental for advancing the postal sector, Bhutan’s membership of the UPU has provided her another multilateral platform for it to engage with the international community.

Bhutan’s membership of the UPU has helped it to develop and modernize the country’s postal services. The membership enhanced the country’s communication and engagement with the rest of the world, and also within the country.

With UPU support Bhutan has been able to modernize and develop its postal sector in step with developments globally, and continue to do so. The support Bhutan has received in the form of technical assistance, capacity development, access to information technology systems, and project tied assistance have been instrumental in enabling Bhutan to meet its Universal Service Obligation in providing postal services to the most remote parts of the country, introduce new services as well as to continuously improve the quality of these services.

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