The Government of Japan agreed today to extend a grant assistance of 597 million yen (approximately 6 million US dollars) to the Royal Government of Bhutan for “the Project for Improvement of Machinery and Equipment for Construction of Rural Agricultural Road (Phase 2)”. The Exchange of Notes to formalize the execution of the grant assistance were signed and exchanged between H.E. Mr. Hideaki Domichi, Ambassador of Japan to Bhutan and H.E. Mr. Vetsop Namgyel, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bhutan to Japan.

The Government of Japan has provided rural road construction machineries and equipment as the assistance to the Project for Improvement of Machinery and Equipment for Construction of Rural Agricultural Road Phase 1.

As Phase 2 of the project, the Japanese government will support procurement of a range of machineries and equipment for construction of rural roads which will link the scattered and isolated farming settlements to Bhutan’s nation-wide road network and meet growing socio-economic needs of the rural communities.

The Government of Japan hopes that the grant assistance would help in the development of Bhutan as envisaged in the 10th Five-Year Plan, and will also contribute to further strengthening of the relationship between Japan and Bhutan.