NEW YORK, 22 SEPTEMBER 2026 Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen - I stand before you today not as Prime Minister, but as a salesman.
And I am not here to sell you a product. Or a policy.
Or another declaration.
I am here to sell you an idea.
An idea conceived and spearheaded by His Majesty, King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.
An idea embraced by the people of Bhutan.
An idea already being built.
That idea is Gelephu Mindfulness City.
GMC.
And my sales pitch is simple: Come and build it with us.
The world has built new cities before: financial centres, free ports, technology hubs, special economic zones.
But GMC is different.
Gelephu Mindfulness City is a Special Administrative Region - an SAR.
Under its Royal Charter, GMC exercises full autonomy - in governance, legislation and the judiciary.
Think one country, two systems.
Think of the agility of a microstate.
But GMC was not inherited from history. It was not created to manage a transfer of sovereignty.
It is being deliberately created - by Bhutan, within Bhutan, on sovereign Bhutanese territory - for the future.
GMC covers more than 4,000 square kilometres. That is more than five times the size of Singapore.
But its greatest opportunity is not its size.
Its greatest opportunity is an institutional blank slate.
GMC was given something extraordinarily rare: the freedom to design an entire city - and its operating system - from first principles.
So we asked: If we could begin again, how would we govern?
What laws would we write?
How would we regulate business?
How would we guarantee an independent judiciary?
How would we attract the best talent?
How would we use technology - and especially artificial intelligence?
How would we create wealth while protecting nature?
And ultimately - what would all that prosperity be for?
These were not theoretical questions.
We answered them.
And we are making full use of that blank slate.
If Singapore has legal principles that work, we learn from Singapore.
If Abu Dhabi has financial regulation that works, we learn from Abu Dhabi.
If leading jurists from the United Kingdom can help us build an independent judiciary, we learn from them.
If international experts can strengthen our institutions, we learn from them.
The principle is simple: Search the world for what works.
Take the best.
Adapt it.
And make it work for GMC.
The result is a core operating system that is now in place - designed to give investors clarity, familiarity and predictability.
But GMC's operating system was designed around a deeper conviction: That prosperity and values should reinforce one another.
That means rejecting the assumption that we must choose between enterprise and wellbeing. Between technology and humanity. Between development and nature.
At GMC, we believe a balanced approach can deliver substantial profits - while protecting the values that make prosperity worthwhile.
Balance is not the enemy of profit.
It is the foundation of lasting profit.
And at GMC, balance is not a slogan.
It is built into the operating system.
This matters deeply to Bhutan.
Bhutan is peaceful and stable. Our forests are intact.
Our culture is alive. Our people are educated.
But our economy is small. It cannot yet create enough opportunities for our young people.
So too many of them leave home to find opportunity elsewhere.
For a country as small as ours, this is not only an economic challenge.
It is an existential one.
We cannot simply tell them to stay.
We must give them a reason to stay - and a reason to return.
Jobs.
Opportunities.
Enterprise.
A future.
So Bhutan must transform.
But we refuse to believe that transformation requires us to become somebody else.
We want economic growth. We want investment. We want technology. We want successful companies. We want our people to become wealthier.
But we also want to protect what makes Bhutan Bhutan.
That is the driving force behind His Majesty's vision for GMC.
And that is why His Majesty is personally spearheading its development.
GMC is not a project on the margins of Bhutan.
It is at the heart of our national transformation.
Our people have embraced GMC as a People's Project - an investment in our children, our economy and our shared future.
Bhutan is not waiting to see whether the world believes in GMC before committing to it.
We have committed.
Fully.
Now let me tell you why GMC is built to succeed.
Begin with location.
GMC sits directly on the border with India - our closest friend and neighbour.
The vision enjoys the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Government of India and our neighbours across the border in Assam.
Beyond that border lies the world's most populous country - and one of its largest and fastest-growing economies.
GMC is also a gateway to the markets of South Asia and Southeast Asia.
So GMC begins with what many new cities spend decades trying to acquire: access to vast and growing markets, connectivity and, in India, a trusted friend.
Bhutan brings another advantage - one that cannot be constructed or bought.
Trust.
Trust built through peace, political stability, the rule of law and a record of honouring our commitments.
For long-term investors, trust creates something invaluable: Predictability.
Bhutan has spent generations building that trust.
GMC puts it to work.
Then there is nature.
Imagine GMC early in the morning.
Mist rising from its rivers.
Forests stretching towards the mountains.
Elephants moving through the landscape.
Tigers still roaming its forests.
This is not empty land.
It is a living, carbon-negative landscape.
A biodiversity hotspot.
We will not build over it.
We will build within it - and protect it.
The forests, rivers and wildlife of GMC are not obstacles to development.
They are part of its value.
And then there is energy.
Bhutan is expanding its renewable-energy capacity towards 25 gigawatts by 2040.
That electricity will power GMC - and the industries of the future: advanced manufacturing, scientific research, artificial intelligence and data centres.
Clean, renewable power.
But GMC has another type of power.
A power Bhutan has cultivated for centuries.
Spiritual power.
GMC is being developed as a global centre for Vajrayana Buddhism.
Spiritual masters from across the Buddhist world are already building monasteries, retreat centres, libraries and institutions of learning.
So imagine what will exist side by side: Entrepreneurs and monks.
Artificial intelligence and human consciousness.
Data centres and meditation centres.
The newest technologies humanity has created - alongside some of the world's oldest traditions for understanding the human mind.
Is that a contradiction?
No.
That is the point.
GMC is not asking investors to choose between commercial success and quality of life.
It is designed to offer both.
Because the world's best people choose more than a workplace.
They choose where to build their lives.
Taken together, these advantages create the conditions for businesses to grow - and investors to prosper: Lower uncertainty.
Abundant clean energy.
Access to growth.
The ability to attract global talent.
And the freedom to create the markets others will later enter.
That is how GMC turns its values into commercial advantage.
You may now reasonably ask: It sounds wonderful.
But is it real?
Yes.
It is real.
The Royal Charter is in force. Laws have been enacted. Regulators are operating. The framework for an independent judiciary is in place.
GMC has its own government. Its own laws. Its own financial system. And its own gold-backed digital currency.
These are not aspirations.
They are foundations already in place.
The physical city is also taking shape.
Infrastructure is being built progressively - as and when it is needed.
The international airport is under construction. A railway connection to India's vast rail network is being developed. Energy, digital connectivity and urban infrastructure are being added as demand grows.
Artificial-intelligence and data-centre projects are moving forward. And nearly five billion US dollars in projects are under active negotiation.
GMC is not an idea waiting to begin.
The journey has begun.
But there is still an extraordinary opportunity to help define where it goes.
Perhaps the best way to understand GMC is to imagine it as a startup.
A 4,000-square-kilometre startup.
Most startups begin with an idea - then search for the conditions they need to succeed.
GMC begins with many of them already in place: His Majesty's leadership.
An entire country fully committed.
Land and clean energy.
Full autonomy.
Trusted laws and institutions.
Access to vast and growing markets.
So GMC is a startup designed from the beginning for success.
And there is one guarantee I can give you: Bhutan will not hedge its bets.
We are all-in.
Every startup needs one more critical ingredient.
Co-founders.
And that, Excellencies, is why this salesman is standing before you.
We want your capital. Your technology. Your talent.
Your ideas. Your enterprise.
And let me be absolutely clear: We want you to make money.
GMC is not a retreat from capitalism, technology or ambition.
It is designed to harness all three - without sacrificing nature, culture or human wellbeing.
Those who come early can help create the industries and markets that others will later enter.
They can help define GMC's economic journey - and share in the value they create.
That is the first-mover advantage.
At GMC, commercial success and human flourishing are designed to build on one another.
This balance is deeply Bhutanese.
For more than half a century, Bhutan has pursued Gross National Happiness.
It does not reject economic growth.
But it does ask the essential question: What is growth for?
GMC gives this development philosophy contemporary form - through markets, technology and investment.
But the aspiration itself is older.
For centuries, the Himalayan Buddhist world has carried an ideal of an enlightened society - where material prosperity and spiritual wisdom coexist; where good governance serves human flourishing; and where people live in harmony with one another and with nature.
That ideal is called Shambhala.
Some of our spiritual masters have looked at what is taking shape in GMC and said: Under an enlightened King, Shambhala is being built.
We make no claim to perfection.
For us, Shambhala points not back to the past, but forward - a promise to carry its wisdom into the future.
To build a city that prospers - and has a soul.
Mr. President, I told you at the beginning that I came here as a salesman.
Now you know what I am selling.
Gelephu Mindfulness City.
So, to governments and institutions seeking partnership - and to investors, entrepreneurs and companies seeking the next great opportunity: Do not watch GMC being built.
Come to Bhutan.
Come to GMC.
Help define the journey.
Build it with us.
Become our co-founders.
Because the future does not simply arrive.
The future is built.
And in Bhutan - we are already building it.
Thank you and Tashidelek.