The Department of Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Royal Government of Bhutan in collaboration with the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) Executive Secretariat, Geneva Launched E-Infrastructure for Trade and Services Development (E4T) project on 16 August 2017 in Thimphu. Hon’ble Tengye Lyonpo Lekey Dorji, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Dr. Ratnakar Adhikari, Executive Director for the EIF Executive Secretariat graced the event. The event was also attended by the EIF National Steering Committee members, officials from the Department of Trade and relevant stakeholders from various agencies.
The project on E-Infrastructure for Trade and Services Development (E4T) is Tier II under the EIF initiative in Bhutan. The total cost of the project is USD 1,849,770 and will be implemented by six different agencies. In terms of funding, an amount of USD 1,482,270 is met from the EIF Trust Fund and the Royal Government of Bhutan contributes in kind through provision of office space and manpower for implementing the project. The duration of the project is for three years.
The EIF is an Aid for Trade multi-donor programme for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), which supports LDCs to be more active players in the global trading system by helping them tackle supply-side constraints to trade. In this way, the programme works towards a wider goal of promoting economic growth and sustainable development and helping to lift more people out of poverty in the LDCs.
The project is expected to promote a reliable ICT ecosystem (hardware and software) that accelerates the integration of Bhutan into regional and global trade and ensure that the Government agencies and businesses are equipped to take advantage of opportunities triggered by the enhancement of the ICT enabling environment for trade in goods and services.