Mr. Kuroda, who paid a courtesy call on His Majesty The King of Bhutan and met with Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley, lauded Bhutan's strong progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, with poverty rate cut from just over 36% in 2000 to around 23% in 2007.

“Over the years Bhutan has made substantial progress in reducing poverty and improving the lives of its people. Just 10 years ago more than one third of the country's people were considered to be living in poverty - a figure that had dropped to less than one quarter by 2007,” said Mr. Kuroda.

The economy, which is highly dependent on sales of electricity to India, was only mildly affected by the global financial crisis and growth is expected to remain strong in the near term, driven by up to 10 planned hydropower projects. At the same time, unemployment, lack of skilled labor for key industries, gaps in infrastructure development, and an underdeveloped private sector are areas the country must address in the medium to longer term.

“Given that rural poverty remains much higher than urban poverty, efforts must continue to ensure that economic growth is made inclusive and brings benefits to all citizens,” added Mr. Kuroda, who also made field trips to ADB-assisted projects during his visit.

Mr. Kuroda noted that ADB has been deeply engaged in supporting energy, transport, urban infrastructure, finance, and governance improvements in Bhutan, and is aiming to scale up assistance over the next 2 years to support the remaining period of the Government's current Five-Year socioeconomic development plan. Indicative spending for Bhutan under ADB's concessional Asian Development Fund for 2011-2012 is estimated at about $58.4 million, up 60% on the previous 2-year allocation.

For the next 4 years, ADB's investment program includes a renewable energy project to support the government's rural electrification program, urban infrastructure, rural roads, domestic airport improvements, and capacity-building support for government agencies.

Since Bhutan joined ADB in 1982 it has received nearly $384 million in lending and non-lending assistance, and in 2009 disbursements reached an all-time high of $35.6 million. Currently there are ongoing lending operations worth a net $228.6 million. From 2006, all assistance has been in the form of grants, except for the Bhutan Green Power Development Project which has multiple sources of finance.