Press Release

Meeting of the Joint Working Group on Space Cooperation

The first meeting of the Bhutan – India Joint Working Group under the Joint Plan of Action (JPoA) on Space Cooperation was held on 06 September 2024 in Thimphu. During the meeting, both sides reviewed ongoing bilateral space cooperation and charted out the way forward on the different areas outlined in the JPoA.

During the State visit of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, H.E. Shri Narendra Modi to Bhutan in March 2024, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and GovTech Agency signed the JPoA, which provides a concrete roadmap for bilateral cooperation in the Space sector. In consonance with the JPoA, additional 16 MHz bandwidth was allocated to Bhutan on the South Asia Satellite by the ISRO.

India and Bhutan share a dynamic partnership in the Space sector, which includes cooperation under the Memorandum of Understanding on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, signed in November 2020. The two sides jointly developed a satellite ‘INDIA-BHUTAN SAT’, which was launched in November 2022 by ISRO. The Government of India has also extended capacity building opportunities to Bhutanese engineers and experts.

​India and Bhutan look forward to further deepening collaborative activities under the JPoA on Space Cooperation, to harness space science and technology for societal good and the betterment of our two peoples.