5th GNH conference concludes

26 November, 2009 – The Fifth International GNH conference in Iguacu, Brazil, ended on November 24 after prime minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley thanked all the participants for their support, which made it possible to hold the conference in South America for the first time.

Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley, in his concluding remarks, also thanked the officials of Itaipu Binacional, the Future Vision institute, the mayor and people of Foz do Iguacu city. He said that the conference had been an invaluable opportunity for the thousand participants to better understand the concept of GNH and exchange views and ideas on how to further advance its practice.

The participants joined the Bhutanese delegates in performing the Tashi Lebey at the end of the conference, which began on November 20.

Lyonchhoen and the Bhutanese delegates also visited the Itaipu Binacional dam site and power plant. The project, which was built jointly by Brazil and Paraguay, has a generation capacity of 14,000 MW and is in the forefront in the area of environmentally responsible development. According to Bhutanese delegation members, several aspects of its technical, operational and environmental management practices could be of great relevance to Bhutan in the development of its own hydropower sector.

source: kuensel