February 6: The Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley delivered a rousing keynote address yesterday at the 10th Delhi Summit for Sustainable Development drawing a sustained applause from a gathering of political leaders, environmentalists and sustainable development experts from around the world.

He began his speech by saying that the Himalayan peaks appeared powerful, pure and pristine the first time he saw them from the air in 1989. Today, he said the views are not as “evocative”.

In a 15-minute statement, the prime minister built his argument that perhaps the solution for the world’s environmental ills lie in adopting a GNH model of development rather than the conventional GDP-approach.

He said “we need to open our eyes to the high price of social dislocation and environmental devastation that has been paid to achieve GDP targets.” (full text of PM’s keynote address)

Lyonchhen said Bhutan believes that happiness must be the purpose of development. He said Bhutan has been guided for several decades now by the concept of Gross National Happiness.

As he concluded his speech, the Prime Minister urged the gathering to exercise wisdom so that an irreproachable path to the 16th conference of the partners to the UN Convention on Climate Change Framework to be held in Mexico later this year can be set.