Bhutan has achieved many Millennium Development Goals, but pockets of poverty still remain among its 720,000 citizens. As a landlocked nation, Bhutan needs to work closely with other countries to ensure it has efficient transport links, notably to seaports in Bangladesh, India, and elsewhere, said the ADB.

Bhutan’s government aims to achieve an economic growth rate of at least 9 per cent per year and to become a middle income country by 2020. Earlier this month, ADB estimated a growth rate of 7.9 per cent for the 2011-2012 fiscal year (ended 30 June 2012), and forecast a growth rate of 8.4 per cent for the current fiscal year.

ADB’s future activities in Bhutan will be aligned with the government’s upcoming 11th Five Year Plan for 2013-2018 and focus on transport, energy, and urban development.

Since 1983, ADB has approved US$381.3 million in loans and grants, US$50.5 million in technical assistance and US$11.4 million in project grants from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction. Some of the major projects ADB has supported include the Green Power Development Project and two Road Network Projects.