Top World Bank official asks countries to emulate Bhutan
Bhutan's guiding development philosophy -- gross national happiness (GNH) -- has come in for praise from a top WB official who said other countries should follow the Himalayan nation's mantra.
By PTI |
THIMPHU: Bhutan's guiding development philosophy -- gross national happiness (GNH) -- has come in for praise from a top World Bank official who said other countries should follow the Himalayan nation's mantra which balances growth and sustainable development.
"Bhutan has been practising what other countries need to do. We need to extend the concept of gross national happiness to gross international happiness," said World Bank's Managing Director (Operations) Graeme Wheeler.
Wheeler, on a five-day visit to the country, said the World Bank looked at government performance across many countries that it partnered with and Bhutan was at the top.
"Our partnership with the Bhutanese government is a valuable one and we at the World Bank learnt a lot from Bhutan," he said.
Wheeler also expressed the hope that Bhutan can play a critical role in showing the world how to respond to climate change.
"Bhutan would play an important role in the global effort to address climate change in terms of the way it thought about the use of forestry and how the constitution protects land use for forestry," Wheeler told a local newspaper.
According to him, Bhutan is creating opportunities in the private sector for new businesses.
"The government can't absorb people coming out of universities and high schools. It has got to be the private sector and you've got to create the opportunity through removing regulations. That makes it easy for people to set up businesses," Wheeler said.
"Bhutan has been practising what other countries need to do. We need to extend the concept of gross national happiness to gross international happiness," said World Bank's Managing Director (Operations) Graeme Wheeler.
Wheeler, on a five-day visit to the country, said the World Bank looked at government performance across many countries that it partnered with and Bhutan was at the top.
"Our partnership with the Bhutanese government is a valuable one and we at the World Bank learnt a lot from Bhutan," he said.
Wheeler also expressed the hope that Bhutan can play a critical role in showing the world how to respond to climate change.
"Bhutan would play an important role in the global effort to address climate change in terms of the way it thought about the use of forestry and how the constitution protects land use for forestry," Wheeler told a local newspaper.
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According to him, Bhutan is creating opportunities in the private sector for new businesses.
"The government can't absorb people coming out of universities and high schools. It has got to be the private sector and you've got to create the opportunity through removing regulations. That makes it easy for people to set up businesses," Wheeler said.
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