Bhutan and India’s Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO): A Critical Appraisal

Abstract

Bhutan and India share a unique relationship, one that is grounded in enlightened leadership and stable governments. India helped to finance most of the development projects and investments in Bhutan, especially hydropower. In turn, most of the hydropower energy thus generated flows back to India’s electricity grid, in the process benefitting both countries. A similar mutuality reveals in a range of other domains. The relationship formally began with the visit of Pandit Nehru to Bhutan in 1958. It flourished and strengthened in subsequent years and decades. The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was entered into to reap the presumed benefits from free trade and commerce. Bhutan gains from this FTA since Bhutan has to import nearly everything from India and whatever Bhutan has for sale, India alone is sufficiently a big market for its products. This article will discuss the trade routes and FTA and Bhutan’s attempt to join World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as refers to other developments in the region.