Two agreements finalizing the Danish support were signed on august 26 by the Finance Secretary, Dasho Yeshey Zimba, and the Resident Coordinator of the Liaison Office of Denmark in Thimphu, Mr. Peter Mark.

In the Judiciary project, with about Nu.9.00 million, will support the procurement of computer equipment for the High Court and six district courts and in-country training of four batches of 25 bench clerks.

The administrative reforms are aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the Judiciary and improving utilization of staff skills.

"The Judiciary has come a long way in Bhutan and, in keeping with a modern economy and changing times it has had to meet emerging challenges," Dasho Yeshey Zimba said. "The government has given a lot of importance to the strengthening of the Judiciary and the project is a step in that direction."

High Court, Judge, Dasho D.N.Katwal said the project would benefit the judiciary immensely and expressed the appreciation of all judiciary staff and the royal court of justice.

In 1992-93, DANIDA supported in country training for 93 judiciary officials, organized by the High Court.

Meanwhile, the three-year marketing programme for the agro industries was given Nu. 7.00 million to promote its products among wholesalers and consumers in the Indian market. The royal government is contributing an additional sum equivalent to the Danish contribution for the programme.

After the three-year period the industry is expected to generate is own marketing budget.

BAIL's Managing Director, Sonam Wangdi, said there were plans to establish two offices in India where BAIL personnel will be stationed. An office in Calcutta will concentrate on the market in east India and the other, in New Delhi, will look towards the market from Chandigarh all the way south to Bangalore.

"When it (the BAIL) was first conceived there were no marketing provision as Bhutanese goods had free access to the protected Indian market," explained Sonam Wangdi. "But, with the liberalization of the Indian economy and subsequent competition from other brands, things changed,"

He said the issue of supporting a marketing programme for BAIL had been raised during the last two Bhutanese ‘Danish biennial consultations.

The BAIL was initiated as a project with 15.00 million Danish Kroners from the Danish government and began commercial production in 1994,

Mr. Peter Mark said that DANIDA had already supported Bhutan in many areas and expressed hope that the two programmes in the judiciary and the agro-based industry would prove successful.

"Over the last many years the collaboration between the royal government and the government of Denmark has not only been exemplary but has grown," said Dasho Yeshey Zimba. "We regard Denmark as a very important donor"

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