Bhutan's Queen Mother Tshering Pem Wangchuk is on a visit to Thailand as part of her campaign to fight drug abuse in her country.
Bhutan Queen Mother Tshering Pem Wangchuk visits the Office of the Narcotics Control Board on Wednesday. (ONCB photo)
She and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board agreed on Wednesday on cooperation in narcotics control programmes between the two countries, the Bhutan embassy in Thailand said.
She visited the Princess Mother National Institute on Drug Abuse Treatment in Pathum Thani's Thanyarak district on Tuesday in an attempt to foster activities between the Thai institute and the Bhutan Youth Development Fund, of which she is president.
The fund has set up a drug treatment and rehabilitation centre to cope with an increasing number of young drug and alcohol abusers in Bhutan.
About 36% of drug offenders in the kingdom are school students followed by the unemployed, the Kuensel newspaper said, quoting Bhutan Narcotics Control Agency figures from 2001 to 2014.
Tshering Pem Wangchuk is one of the former king's wives. She is not the mother of present King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who is very popular in Thailand.
She was accompanied by Princess Ashi Chimi Yangzom Wangchuk, who is a half-sister of the present king.
King Jigme's popularity in Thailand started in 2006 when he attended His Majesty the King's 60th anniversary of accession to the throne. He was the youngest royal at the event.