United States ambassador to India visits Bhutan
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| Prime Minister Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk with Dr. Mulford |
18 April, 2007 - Even if Bhutan and the United States (US) did not have diplomatic relations the two countries could continue to build the relationship constructively, said the United States ambassador to India, Dr. David C Mulford, who is on a goodwill visit to Bhutan from April 16-18.
“I think what we have today in terms of our relations is working very well,” said Dr. Mulford. “There are no disadvantages for either of us and in my opinion, there is no need to move ahead quickly and try to do that because there is no real driving necessity.”Dr. Mulford, who received an audience with His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo on April 17, described the Constitutional changes in the country as a “carefully thought out process”. The ambassador said that it was very important for the Americans to understand the process and assign to it the value it deserves as a ‘serious transformative process’. “Too often democracy is simply associated with elections and nothing more,” he said.
As a former student of Constitutional change, the US ambassador said that in Bhutan’s case, the democratic fabric was a carefully laid out process. “What we really need to understand is that Bhutan has a very special experience now and a message to present it to the world, although the country is small,” he said.
To further invigorate the Constitutional change, the ambassador also stressed on the role of an independent and an active media to disseminate diverse and correct information.
Expressing his views about the problem of the people in the camps in eastern Nepal, the US ambassador said that the US has agreed to take a large number of refugees into the US. “Although it is not a quick and easy process we do hope that Bhutan makes a symbolic move to take in some of them in time to come,” said the ambassador.
Talking to the Bhutanese media, the US ambassador said that Bhutan’s decision to promote the growth of tourism industry while preserving its culture was a wise and an impressive decision. “Often countries promote tourism but in doing so, they destroy their culture, and therefore, becoming less interesting place to visit over time,” the ambassador said.
While in the country, Dr. Mulford met the prime minister and the foreign minister, Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk, the home minister, Lyonpo Jigmi Y Thinley, the trade and industry minister, Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba and other senior government officials.
Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk told Kuensel that the visit of the US ambassador was a part of the growing interaction and relations between the two countries. “We had useful exchange of views and during our meeting, Ambassador Mulford reiterated their decision to resettle in the United States a large number of people from the camps in Nepal and I expressed our deep appreciation of their decision to resettle the people,” he said.
Before he joined government service, Dr. David C Mulford served in a number of large companies as the managing director and senior investment advisor. He also served as a Special Assistant to the Secretary and Under Secretary of the Treasury as a White House Fellow between 1965 and 1966. From 1984 to 1992, Dr. Mulford was Under Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the US, Treasury for International Affairs. Dr. Mulford was nominated by President George W Bush to be the United States ambassador to India on November 13, 2003.
Source: Kuensel