New Delhi: Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra kicked off a three-day visit to Bhutan Wednesday with the focus expected to be on boosting cooperation in the hydel-power sector, defence ties and reviewing the situation in the strategically-sensitive Doklam tri-junction.
Kwatra will hold bilateral consultations with Bhutanese Foreign Secretary Aum Pema Choden and co-chair the fourth ‘India-Bhutan Development Cooperation Talks’, the Indian embassy in Thimphu said.
It said Kwatra will also call on the Bhutanese leadership.
“Welcomed Foreign Secretary @AmbVMKwatra on his arrival at Paro, for an official visit to Bhutan from 18-20 January. He will hold bilateral consultations with Foreign Secretary of Bhutan Aum Pema Choden and co-chair the 4th India-Bhutan Development Cooperation Talks,” the embassy tweeted.
It said the visit is “in keeping with the tradition of regular high-level exchanges between India and Bhutan and will provide an opportunity to the two sides to discuss the entire gamut of bilateral ties”.
In a statement, the Bhutanese foreign ministry said Kwatra will call on the prime minister and the foreign minister, besides holding talks with Choden.
“During the visit, Foreign Secretary Kwatra will call on the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, and also meet his counterpart Foreign Secretary Pema Choden to discuss issues of mutual interest,” it said.
Kwatra’s trip to Bhutan came two-and-a-half months after Royal Bhutan Army’s Chief Operations Officer Lt Gen Batoo Tshering visited India.
Tshering’s visit was focused on various key dimensions of India-Bhutan defence cooperation.
It is learnt that the situation in the Doklam tri-junction is expected to figure in the talks between Kwatra and his Bhutanese counterpart.
The Doklam plateau is considered an important area for India’s strategic interest.
The Indian and Chinese armies were locked in a 73-day stand-off at the Doklam tri-junction in 2017 after China tried to extend a road in an area that Bhutan claimed belonged to it.
India had strongly opposed the construction as it would have impacted its overall security interests. The India-China face-off was resolved following several rounds of talks.
In October 2021, Bhutan and China signed an agreement on a “three-step roadmap” to expedite negotiations to resolve their festering boundary dispute.
Bhutan shares an over 400-km-long border with China and the two countries have held over 24 rounds of boundary talks in a bid to resolve the dispute.
China has been ramping up infrastructure development in the region.
PTI