Plucky Bhutan seeks to reinvent its economy

Cradled in the mighty Himalayan mountains, which you can see close up on either side as your plane descends into Paro airport, the kingdom of Bhutan competes with neighbouring Tibet to be the “roof of the world”. But now it also aspires to compete with the world’s business hubs.

Billed as the world’s happiest country which has famously preferred to maximise its gross national happiness rather than its gross national product, Bhutan is all set to reinvent its landlocked economy. In a bold experiment, it is creating the world’s first greenfield “special administrative region” (SAR), with separate rules and institutions from the rest of the country, including its own legal system and currency.