Modi vows stronger Bhutan energy ties in first foreign visit

FE Team | Published: June 17, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

THIMPHU, June 16 (AFP): India's Narendra Modi on Monday pledged stronger energy ties with tiny neighbour Bhutan as he wrapped up his first foreign visit since becoming prime minister, a trip aimed at checking China's influence in the region.
In an address to Bhutan's parliament, Modi said he also planned to build a stronger India which could better support its regional neighbours, on the final day of his visit to the Buddhist kingdom.
"In the last few years India and Bhutan have made a strong start in the field of hydro power-we can improve it further," Modi told lawmakers in the capital Thimphu.
"Energy security will be a key issue in the near future," said Modi, who won a landslide election victory last month on a pledge to revive India's flagging economy.
Modi and his Bhutanese counterpart Tshering Tobgay later unveiled a plaque and laid a foundation stone for a new hydropower power plant, a joint venture between the two countries.
"Construction on 600MW Kholonchhu Hydroelectric Project officially begins with laying foundation stone," Tobgay tweeted.
Bhutan, with its abundant winding rivers, has set its sights on becoming an energy powerhouse, with most of its electric power already sold to energy-hungry India.
Three hydropower projects have been built in India-Bhutan joint ventures and another three are under construction, with plans for more, officials have said.