16 June 2008 Ministerial distinction for Lincoln graduate following nation's first democratic elections

A Lincoln University agricultural science graduate has achieved high honours after his home country’s first democratic elections.

Pema Gyamtsho of Bhutan, who studied at Lincoln University in the 1980s and went on to complete a PhD in Switzerland, has been elected a Member of Parliament and appointed Minister of Agriculture in the small Himalayan state.

Pema came to Lincoln University initially on an attachment to the old Tussock Grasslands and Mountain Lands Institute. On completion of six months with the Institute he returned home, then came back to New Zealand and Lincoln to enrol in Field Technology and Agricultural Sciences courses. He graduated from Lincoln University in 1989.

Back in Bhutan once more, he pursued a career in which he rose to become Deputy Director of the Himalayan High Mountain Research Centre, based in neighbouring Nepal.

For centuries Bhutan was under monarchic rule but since democratic elections in March this year it is now a constitutional monarchy.

With agriculture being one of the four pillars of the small nation’s economy, and providing a livelihood for over 80 percent of the population, Pema will have an important role in Government as Minister. The other economic mainstays are forestry, tourism and the sale of hydro-electric power to India.