Unfortunatly, the Covid pandemic seems to make personal meetings between Austrian and Bhutanese friends impossible for a longer period to come. Therefore, Friends of Bhutan Association has introduced online-meetings between members and Bhutanese partners in order to discuss topics of relevance for our bilateral partnership. During our first Coffee Lounge meeting we learned about the plans to further develop vocational training in Bhutan and about the Build Bhutan Project. We discussed possibilities for Austria to contribute to this project aiming at the enhancement of the construction sector in Bhutan by finding highly skilled Austrian master trainers who are willing to spend 3-12 months in Bhutan in order to mentor and train young Bhuanese in one of the required trades.
The meeting was honored by the participation of HE Ambassador Tenzin R. Wangchuk, Dasho Kinzang Wangdi, Dasho Kinga Tshering and Director MoLHR Norbu Wangchuk. 18 members of the Friends of Bhutan Association attended the first Coffee Lounge.
The format of these online meetings is called „Coffee Lounge“ because we are meeting in a friendly and informal athmosphere on weekends in order to enable the participation of members who are working on weekdays. Due to the time difference between Austria and Bhutan these meetings are taking place at 2 or 3 pm CET and 7 or 8 pm Bhutan time.