India and Bhutan renew MoU on electoral co-operation

Chief Election Commissioners of India and Bhutan have signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost bilateral electoral co-operation, the Press Information Bureau of India reported. The Chief Election Commissioner of India Dr. S. Y. Quraishi visited Bhutan at the invitation of his counterpart Dasho Kunzang Wangdi for strengthening initiatives between the two Election Commissions. The MoU covers facilitating exchange of knowledge and experience, information, material, expertise and technical knowhow, training of personnel and development of human resources in electoral matters and also for taking up joint initiatives and providing assistance to others. Dr Quarishi offered to create a SAARC Resource Centre at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management for preserving and nurturing election related documentation in relation to SAARC countries. Wangdi welcomed the suggestion and presented the first set of documents for this Resource Centre and also requested for training of their newly inducted officers through the IIDEM platform in India. Dr. Quraishi agreed to the request and offered to train Bhutanese election officials during the process of forthcoming State elections.